LIBRARY 

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THE  LABOUK  QUESTION 


IN  BEITAIN 


BY 

PAUL    DE  ^ROUSIERS 

AUTHOR  OF  'AMEWCAN  LIFE' 


WITH  A  PREFACE  BY 

HENRI   DE   TOURVILLE 


TRANSLATED   BY 

F.   L.  D.   HERBERTSON,   B.A. 


pontoon 
MACMILLAN   AND   CO.,  LTD. 

NEW  YORK:    MACMILLAN  AND  CO. 
1896 


All  rights  reserved 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FRENCH  EDITION 


DAWN  is  preceded  by  twilight.  Something  is  in  the  air 
of  which  we  are  vaguely  conscious  long  before  we  can 
definitely  make  out  what  it  is.  There  are  hints  to-day  of  a 
new  method  of  treating  social  phenomena,  by  presenting  an 
accurate  picture  of  them  with  a  view  to  demonstrating  the 
laws  which  determine  and  govern  them.  Man,  it  is  thought, 
can  thread  his  way  through  the  midst  of  these  phenomena  and 
handle  them  with  all  the  certainty  of  precise  knowledge.  A 
great  revulsion  of  feeling  has  taken  place.  Until  recently  the 
mere  idea  of  the  scientific  and  methodical  observation  of  social 
phenomena  encountered  the  most  determined  opposition  on  all 
sides.  No  one  would  admit  that  a  man  who  devoted  himself 
to  studies  of  the  kind,  however  rigorous  his  methods  might 
be,  could  succeed  in  disentangling  some  threads  of  the  huge 
and  complex  web  of  society.  Only  the  wiser  heads  of  poli- 
ticians, from  their  heights  of  power  or  speculation,  were 
considered  qualified  to  grapple  with  the  problem  and  to  offer  to 
the  rest  of  the  world  such  solutions  of  the  ever-changing  riddle 
as  time  and  place  seemed  to  require. 

Thus  the  true  method  of  all  reliable  knowledge  was  re- 
versed, that  method  which,  instead  of  proceeding  from  a 
confused  and  summary  view  of  a  vast  whole  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  part,  proceeds  from  the  study  of  the  most 
minute  part  to  that  of  a  contiguous  part,  and  thence  little  by 
little,  without  risk  of  error,  to  that  of  the  whole.  Experience 
and  reflection,  however,  have  borne  fruit.  Amid  the  ignor- 
ance of  the  real  bearing  of  the  difficulties  presented,  which 


vi  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION 

such  unscientific  prejudices  fostered,  statesmen  and  theorists 
have  tried,  by  every  means  and  in  the  most  opposite  directions, 
to  mould  the  course  of  events  to  their  will.  The  result  has 
been,  in  every  case,  failure.  Events  have  persisted,  with  lofty 
independence,  in  following  a  wholly  unforeseen  course,  daily 
forcing  all  parties  to  admit  their  surprise,  leading  perforce  to 
new  developments,  steadily  checkmating  headstrong  endeavours 
and  assertions,  and  giving  them  the  lie  without  fear  of  con- 
tradiction. Thus  the  wisdom  of  the  wise  has  been  confounded 
and  it  has  gradually  dawned  upon  the  world  that  circumstances 
pursue  a  course  of  their  own,  independent  of  any  human  will. 

No  one  now  leads  the  world,  either  from  above  or  from 
below.  A  great  event  occurs  which  gradually  reconciles  the 
most  opposed  sentiments.  Who  did  it  ?  No  one  and  yet 
every  one,  not  through  any  conscious  desire  preceding  and 
preparing  the  issue,  but  through  some  need  which  demanded  a 
solution  and  through  the  satisfaction  which  greeted  it  when 
found.  Powerful  forces  are  at  work,  overruling  the  will  of  the 
masses  as  well  as  of  the  classes,  and  pointing  to  the  influence 
of  the  laws  which  shape  the  conditions  of  human  life. 

We  are  now  beginning  to  understand  that  our  task  is  not 
to  make  the  present  world  to  our  liking,  but  to  learn  how  it  is 
made,  and  that  we  have,  not  a  given  combination  to  discover, 
but  a  phenomenon  to  observe  which,  if  we  would  understand 
it  aright,  must  like  all  others  be  observed  scientifically. 
Indeed,  in  questions  of  social  science,  the  public  is  now  as 
suspicious  of  partisans  and  agitators  as  it  was  formerly  pre- 
judiced in  favour  of  politicians  and  distrustful  of  painstaking 
research,  and  turns  for  information  to  patient  and  earnest 
observers,  upon  the  results  of  whose  studies,  conducted  with 
scrupulous  precision,  it  bases  its  own  opinions.  It  is  the 
precision  and  certainty  of  their  observational  methods  which 
has  won  general  confidence  in  the  results.  Thus,  gradually, 
after  long  ostracism,  a  justly  conceived  social  science  has 
received  the  rights  of  citizenship  by  public  acclamation. 

In  any  science,  however,  it  is  less  important  to  argue 
about  the  best  method  of  observation  than  to  put  it  to  good 
use  and  show  the  results  obtained.  The  value  of  a  method  is 
sufficiently  demonstrated  when  an  observer  in  the  course  of 
his  exposition  displays  a  minute,  full,  and  lucid  knowledge  of 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FRENCH  EDITION  vii 

the  object  under  observation.  This  will  be  found  in  M.  de 
Kousiers'  book,  wherein  the  method  of  investigation  is  even 
more  important  than  the  question  with  which  it  is  concerned. 
M.  de  Eousiers  has  taken  pains  to  explain  fully  and  exactly 
what  his  method  was,  and  here  it  will  be  sufficient  to  recall 
the  principle  of  all  scientific  observation,  which  consists  in 
studying  in  the  environment  to  be  observed  some  subject 
whose  conditions  have  been  determined  with  exactitude,  and 
noting  what  modifications  are  directly  brought  about  by  some 
influence  exerted  on  it.  The  results  are  verified  by  vary- 
ing the  subject,  and  the  surroundings  are  also  progressively 
changed  so  as  to  produce  a  regular  succession  of  phenomena. 

In  applying  this  method  to  the  investigation  of  social 
phenomena  there  is  no  need  for  the  observer  to  interfere  with 
individuals,  or  create  a  new  kind  of  laboratory,  or  resort  to 
artificial  conditions  for  carrying  out  his  social  experiments. 
The  required  conditions  are  furnished  by  persons  who  place 
themselves  of  their  own  accord  in  the  environment  to  be 
studied,  and  what  the  observer  has  to  do  is  to  ascertain  with 
all  the  rigour  of  the  sociologist's  method — not  superficially  like 
a  tourist  or  an  impressionist,  but  with  the  precision  of  a  man 
of  science — what  results  follow  from  this  choice  of  situation. 
Instead  of  transplanting  a  man  or  a  family  into  a  given 
environment,  the  observer  chooses  among  those  who  have  been 
led  thither  by  their  own  inclinations  such  subjects  as  will 
furnish  an  exact,  definite  and  graduated  series  of  observations. 
It  is  a  pleasure  to  note  the  precision  with  which,  throughout 
his  work,  M.  de  Eousiers  brings  out  the  shades  of  difference  in 
each  of  the  cases  observed,  grouping  them  in  an  order  so 
natural,  and  yet  so  simple,  that  they  almost  seem  to  have 
arranged  themselves  of  their  own  accord.  The  attention  is 
never  fatigued  nor  the  memory  overburdened,  and  yet,  in  spite 
of  the  infinite  variety  of  conditions  presented  by  the  working 
classes  of  England,  the  picture  is  accurate  in  detail  and  har- 
monious in  its  entirety.  It  is  a  pleasant  task  to  penetrate 
the  mysteries  of  the  Labour  Question  in  Britain  under  the 
guidance  of  M.  de  Kousiers,  to  see  each  point  in  turn  illumin- 
ated and  brought  into  focus,  and  to  discover  by  degrees  that 
the  resulting  images  are  but  varied  aspects  of  the  same 
phenomenon. 


viii  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION 

And  what  is  this  phenomenon  ?  It  may  be  stated  thus  : 
the  only  true  solution  of  the  problem  of  how  to  ensure  the 
permanent  well-being  of  those  who  have  no  resource  but  the 
labour  of  their  hands,  is  to  be  found  in  the  modification  of  the 
worker  in  a  direction  parallel  to  that  of  industrial  changes. 
This  is  not  merely  a  generalisation  based  on  experience,  but  a 
logical  deduction  from  the  premisses,  just  as  the  principle  of 
Archimedes,  that  a  body  loses  in  water  a  weight  equal  to  the 
weight  of  the  volume  of  water  displaced,  is  at  once  an  observed 
fact  and  a  mathematical  consequence  of  the  doctrine  of  equili- 
brium. Any  attempt  to  solve  the  problem  in  the  opposite 
direction,  by  checking  industrial  changes  in  order  that  the 
worker  may  remain  what  he  is,  is  not  a  solution  but  a  compro- 
mise, with  all  the  disadvantages  of  a  compromise.  A  state 
of  equilibrium  is  certainly  produced  between  the  condition 
of  the  worker  and  the  condition  of  industry,  inasmuch  as 
the  evolution  of  both  is  arrested  and  remains  stationary 
at  the  same  point,  but  such  equilibrium  is  necessarily 
unstable.  The  two  forces  concerned  tend  in  opposite  direc- 
tions :  the  transformation  of  industry,  artificially  arrested 
in  its  natural  development,  to  become  more  sudden  and 
sweeping  as  time  intensifies  the  results  of  its  retardation ;  the 
worker,  artificially  protected  against  the  necessity  for  change, 
to  become  the  slave  of  habits  too  strong  to  break,  and  more 
and  more  incapable  of  change,  as  the  gulf  between  himself  and 
the  accelerated  rate  of  progress  widens.  If,  on  the  contrary, 
the  worker  sets  about  modifying  himself  to  correspond  with 
new  industrial  conditions,  both  forces  tend  in  the  same  direc- 
tion, and  there  is  no  antagonism  between  them.  The  man 
speedily  proves  that  he  can  change  with  even  more  rapidity 
than  the  methods  of  labour.  He  begins  to  anticipate  their 
development,  and  is  ready  for  any  contingency.  But  this  is 
only  stating  in  abstract  terms  what  M.  de  Rousiers  has  shown 
over  and  over  again  by  a  wealth  of  concrete  examples  inde- 
pendent of  theoretical  considerations. 

This  conclusion  is  enhanced  in  interest  by  the  fact  that 
this  transformation  of  the  worker  is  shown  to  be  a  sign  of 
racial  progress.  Notwithstanding  the  advantage  of  higher 
wages,  it  has  long  been  feared,  and  not  without  some  appear- 
ance of  reason,  that  the  new  methods  of  labour  might  tend  to 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FRENCH  EDITION  ix 

the  deterioration  of  the  workers.  The  first  recruits  under  the 
new  system  found  little  scope  for  the  exercise  of  the  manual 
skill  which  had  hitherto  been  their  principal  qualification,  and 
seemed  to  have  sunk  to  a  lower  level.  Set  unexpectedly  to 
work  of  a  kind  for  which  they  had  never  been  trained,  they 
were  deficient  in  the  qualities  which  would  have  enabled  them 
to  succeed  along  the  new  lines.  Their  position  was  not  unlike 
that  of  those  pioneer  emigrants  who  start  a  colony  with  in- 
sufficient preparation,  and  are  ill  fitted  to  turn  to  account  the 
great  but  unfamiliar  resources  at  their  disposal.  Though  their 
life  is  in  reality  easier,  their  position  is  apparently  less  good 
than  in  the  mother  country,  and  it  looks  as  though  the  colony 
would  never  produce  anything  but  an  inferior  race.  Others, 
however,  follow,  who  recognise  what  was  lacking  and  attack 
the  task  in  a  different  way.  The  colonists  of  the  new 
generation  achieve  a  marked  success,  and  far  outstrip  all  who 
preceded  them.  What  is  required  from  the  worker  to-day  is 
not  so  much  the  special  aptitude  for  a  particular  trade  as  the 
qualities  which  go  to  make  a  man,  and  this  it  is  which 
constitutes  the  superiority  of  the  new  requirements  of  labour. 
Competition  and  the  progress  of  invention  are  tending  to  make 
industry  as  variable  as  commerce  has  ever  been,  and  just  as 
the  trader  has  always  depended  for  success  on  his  inherent 
capacity  for  trading  in  any  kind  of  merchandise,  so  the  worker 
is  coming  to  depend  for  success  on  his  inherent  capacity  for 
engaging  in  any  branch  of  industry.  The  man  whose  mind 
and  body  are  so  specialised  as  to  be  adapted  only  for  a  single 
kind  of  work,  which  may  be  swept  away  to-morrow,  has  been 
trained  for  the  workhouse.  Almost  all  industries  formerly 
called  for  specialisation  of  this  narrow  kind,  but  a  gradual 
process  of  elimination  is  at  work,  and  among  those  which 
have  in  turn  availed  themselves  of  machinery  the  difference 
tends  to  be  one  of  degree  only.  It  is  therefore  of  great 
importance,  not  merely  for  the  worker's  own  sake  but  also 
for  industrial  progress,  that  he  should  be  able  to  regulate 
his  work  to  suit  any  branch  of  industry,  according  to  the 
varying  success  of  different  enterprises.  In  order  to  do  so  he 
must  be  generally  rather  than  specially  capable,  and  possessed 
of  virile  qualities  rather  than  of  technical  skill. 

Nor  is  it  only  for  the  sake  of  adapting  his  working  powers 


x  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION 

to  the  varying  requirements  and  manifold  resources  of  modern 
industry  that  it  is  so  essential  for  the  worker  to  be  first  and 
foremost  a  man,  but  still  more  for  the  sake  of  ordering  aright 
his  material,  intellectual  and  moral  life,  of  forming  just  views, 
of  estimating  his  interests  accurately,  and  of  organising  their 
defence  effectively,  amid  economic  conditions  for  whose  com- 
plexity and  variability  no  parallel  can  be  found  in  the  stable, 
simple,  naive,  and  I  might  almost  add  childish,  conditions  of 
the  older  industrial  system. 

But  although  such  a  change  in  the  worker  may  be  both 
necessary  and  beneficial,  will  it  not  be  extremely  difficult  to 
bring  about,  and  does  not  our  solution  of  the  problem  conse- 
quently break  down  at  this  point  ?  To  make  a  man,  and  a 
man  for  times  like  these,  is  a  more  complex  task  than  to  make 
a  specialist  adapted  to  the  old  methods  of  labour. 

In  this  respect,  more  than  in  any  other,  the  example  of 
England  is  of  the  greatest  value.  M.  de  Eousiers  chose 
England  in  order  to  observe  the  modern  industrial  system  in 
its  most  intense  form,  for  it  is  an  axiom  of  the  scientific 
method  to  select  the  phenomenon  where  it  is  best  marked. 
Nowhere,  and  at  no  period  of  the  world's  history,  has  there 
been  an  industrial  power  to  match  England.  America,  vast, 
energetic  and  adventurous,  has  not  equalled  it,  notwithstanding 
the  colossal  scale  of  all  she  undertakes.  Between  the  old 
continent  and  the  new,  the  British  Isles  form  the  great  central 
factory  of  the  world,  and  other  manufacturing  countries  are  but 
subordinate  industrial  suburbs.  The  shores  of  these  islands 
have  become  the  great  commercial  quays  of  that  River  Ocean 
which,  as  the  ancients  fabled,  encircles  the  world,  and  their 
merchandise  penetrates  wherever  the  ocean  penetrates.  There 
is  no  nation,  small  or  great,  to  which  the  commerce  of  England 
is  not  either  a  boon  or  a  menace. 

But  what  strikes  the  observer  even  more  than  England's 
power — and  more  especially  after  what  has  been  said  of  the 
dangers  of  this  new  industrial  phase — is  the  co-existence  and 
interdependence  of  two  phenomena  which  have  been  supposed 
to  be  mutually  opposed  to  one  another :  the  greatest  develop- 
ment of  modern  industrial  methods,  and  the  most  advantageous 
position  of  the  workers. 

Astonishment  gives  place  to  hope,  and  hope  to  enthusiasm 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FRENCH  EDITION  xi 

born  of  conviction,  when  these  two  phenomena  are  seen  to  be 
intimately  connected  with  a  third,  which  gives  the  clue  to 
a  clear  and  simple  solution  of  all  the  rest.  This  unknown 
factor,  which  we  should  least  have  suspected  to  be  what  it  is, 
and  which  we  should  have  considered  not  only  highly  improb- 
able but  also  highly  illogical,  is  that  England  is  the  home, 
not  only  of  the  most  complex  methods  of  labour,  and  of  the 
most  advanced  working  class,  but  also  of  the  most  simplified 
form  of  education — a  fact  which  is  beyond  dispute.  It  is,  then, 
by  simple  methods  of  education  that  the  difficulties  of  the 
present  day  must  ultimately  be  solved. 

This  is  the  thunder  clap  which  precedes  the  lightning  flash. 

In  France  the  education  of  all  classes  is  radically  and 
appallingly  wrong.  No  class,  from  the  working  class  to  the 
middle  class,  from  the  middle  class  to  the  intellectual  class, 
from  the  intellectual  class  to  the  man  of  the  highest  intellectual 
development,  has  escaped  the  effects  of  a  most  disastrous  error. 
This  is  essentially  the  source,  not  only  of  the  Labour  Question, 
but  of  the  whole  Social  Question.  The  real  point  at  issue,  the 
cause  of  the  whole  difficulty  in  all  cases,  from  the  simplest 
farming  to  the  most  complex  industrial  and  commercial  under- 
takings and  the  administration  of  political  and  religious  affairs, 
is  what  is  known  as  the  question  of  the  personnel.  This  has 
been  called  the  Social  problem,  because  it  affects  the  personnel 
engaged  in  every  section  of  human  activity  and  is  not  confined 
to  one  or  even  to  a  few  classes.  Neither  knowledge  nor 
appliances  are  wanted  for  material,  mental  or  moral  action, 
and  both  are  progressing  from  day  to  day.  It  is  the  man  that 
is  lacking,  the  man  to  match  such  knowledge  and  appliances. 
The  real  problem  of  modern  times  is  the  question  of  human 
development,  arising  in  due  course  after  that  of  the  development 
of  other  natural  forces.  A  great  enterprise  has  grown  up,  but 
there  is  something  wrong  with  its  working.  After  blaming 
all  the  forces  of  nature,  and  after  appealing  to  all  of  them,  it 
has  at  last  been  realised  that  what  is  wanting  is  the  man. 

England  has  not  suffered  from  this  disadvantage.  England 
and  France  are  near  neighbours,  separated  only  by  a  narrow 
strait.  France  thinks  that  she  understands  England  because 
there  is  little  difference  in  the  mode  of  dress,  the  manner  of 
life,  the  products  of  the  soil  and  industry,  and  never  suspects 

b 


xii  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION 

that  England  is  in  some  respects  profoundly  different.  There 
is,  therefore,  a  certain  feeling  of  astonishment  at  the  sight  of 
this  people,  believed  by  its  neighbours  to  be  rather  boorish, 
neither  refined  nor  well  instructed,  and  but  summarily  educated, 
coming  to  the  front  everywhere,  not  by  force  of  arms — for  your 
Englishman  is  not  a  fighting  man  and  does  not  boast  of 
cementing  society  by  blood  and  iron1 — but  by  persistent, 
prompt,  daring  and  intelligent  action  in  every  direction.  As 
manufacturers  and  traders,  Englishmen  have  surpassed  Carthage 
or  Venice  or  any  other  power  that  ever  was,  and  at  the  same 
time  they  are  pioneers  and  colonists  of  the  first  order.  The 
empire  of  Britain  has  grown,  unnoticed  by  the  world,  until  it 
surpasses  the  vastest  which  have  existed.  Not  one  empire, 
but  a  series  of  empires,  has  arisen  as  if  by  magic  in  the  most 
distant  parts  of  the  globe,  founded  by  the  unfettered  enterprise 
of  British  colonists,  without  the  earth  trembling  or  the  sea 
groaning  beneath  the  weight  of  armies  or  men-of-war.  Never 
before  have  such  freedom  and  such  dispersion  and  yet  such 
unity  of  views  and  action  been  seen  in  any  people,  without 
fixed  plan,  without  centralised  administration,  and  unassisted 
in  any  way  by  official  control.  The  whole  is  but  the  natural 
outcome  of  the  individual  organisation,  which  to  a  French  eye 
seems  so  uncomplete.  This  great  work  has  really  been  done 
by  these  ignorant,  half-educated  barbarians  !  Then  let  us  see 
the  schools  where  they  lose  the  colour  of  health  in  poring  over 
codes,  and  the  systems  of  apprenticeship  at  which  men  grow 
old  learning  the  elements  of  their  trade.  That  is  impossible. 
England  has  conceived  education  as  a  simple  thing.  Her 
characteristic  method  can  only  be  described  as  an  endeavour  to 
make  men,  as  the  prime  element  of  all  prosperity.  England  is 
first  and  foremost  a  great  school  for  men.2 

1  An  allusion  to  the  profoundly  suggestive  words  recently  used  by  the  German 
Emperor  on  Prince  Bismarck's  eightieth  birthday,  26th  March  1895  :  "I  cannot 
present  you  with  a  better  gift  than  a  sword,  the  arm  preferred  by  the  German, 
the  symbol  of  the  instrument  which  your  Serene  Highness  aided  my  late  grand- 
father to  forge,  to  sharpen  and  to  wield,  the  symbol  of  that  powerful  epoch  of 
construction  when  blood  and  iron  were  the  cement,  that  unfailing  means,  which 
in  the  hands  of  kings  and  princes  can,  if  need  be,  preserve  internally  the  unity 
of  our  fatherland  which  it  formerly  created  externally." 

8  "  If  I  am  asked  what  is  the  bias  of  Englishmen  I  am  puzzled  to  answer.  It  is 
not  war,  nor  birth,  nor  promotion,  nor  success  with  the  fair,  nor  the  sweets  of  court 
favour  ;  rather  they  would  that  men  be  men." — Montesquieu,  Penstes  diverses. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FRENCH  EDITION  xiii 

Men  of  the  type  grown  there  cannot  be  driven,  classified, 
penned  up  and  enslaved,  but  are  free  agents,  capable  of 
individual  action  and  responsibility.  France,  though  increas- 
ingly concerned  about  perfecting  the  means  of  production  in 
agriculture  or  in  industry,  and  eager  to  discover  the  secret  of 
those  who  are  ahead,  whether  across  the  Channel  or  across 
the  Atlantic,  adopts  a  different  course  when  it  is  a  question  of 
training  men.  Then  she  temporises,  and  refuses  to  be  guided 
except  by  the  traditions  of  a  past  which,  however  recent,  is  none 
the  less  past  and  gone,  or  resorts  to  new  theoretical  inventions 
and  combinations,  instead  of  laying  to  heart  the  experience  of 
those  who  succeed  where  she  fails.  The  result  is  usually  the 
adoption  of  methods  which  oppress,  and  crush,  and  overdrive, 
or  debilitate  and  exasperate.  Had  England  tried  to  develop 
the  modern  type  of  worker  by  equally  complicated  and  labori- 
ous means  she  would  have  failed  to  solve  the  labour  problem. 
But  what  I  have  said  elsewhere,  somewhat  paradoxically  it 
may  be,  I  quote  here  against  such  methods.  "  The  true 
strength  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  system  of  education  lies  in  turning 
out  a  splendid  savage,  who  differs  from  other  savages  and  from 
the  barbarians  of  old  in  being  able  to  endure,  sustain  and 
promote  civilisation  in  every  form.  His  physical  training  is 
intelligent,  ample  and  not  exaggerated  on  any  side.  The  other 
points  on  which  his  education  lays  stress  are  absolute  freedom 
of  mind  ;  the  preservation  of  the  native  freshness  of  his 
faculties  into  the  prime  of  manhood  ;  an  earnest  desire  for 
palpable  and  powerful  verities ;  a  fundamental  honesty,  con- 
scious and  deliberate ;  and  an  inherent  tendency  to  be  sufficient 
to  himself  and  to  use  instead  of  husbanding  his  resources.  As 
the  savage  is  reared  amid  the  natural  forces  of  the  steppe  or 
the  virgin  forest,  so  the  Englishman  is  brought  up  amid  the 
prodigious  phenomena  of  modern  activity  and  intelligence,  and 
looks  upon  them  as  the  savage  looks  upon  the  elements,  as 
primal  conditions  from  which  his  task  is  to  make  a  living  by 
rendering  himself  their  master.  Accustomed  from  infancy 
to  this  condition  of  affairs,  he  looks  upon  it  as  the  initial  one, 
the  primitive  state  in  which  he  has  awakened.  Therefore  he 
feels  neither  astonishment  nor  apprehension,  he  sees  only 
powerful  resources  as  yet  fresh  and  imperfectly  explored,  he 
feels  that  the  world  is  young,  that  there  is  nothing  which  may 


xiv  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION 

not  happen,  and  that  the  path  of  progress  lies  not  backward, 
but  forward.  Such  a  training  does  not  fit  him  exclusively  for 
one  special  profession,  but  equips  him,  physically  and  morally, 
for  mastering  without  difficulty  the  methods  of  any  undertaking. 
No  matter  how  new  or  complicated  they  may  appear,  he  soon 
shows  that  there  is  scope  for  simple,  adequate  and  decisive 
methods.  He  migrates  from  trade  to  trade  without  apparently 
changing  his  essential  qualification,  the  power  of  making  the 
most  of  himself,  which  is  everywhere  the  most  indispensable 
and  certain  condition  of  success.  After  he  has  tried  his  hand 
successfully  at  a  dozen  different  things  and  worked  vigorously 
for  half  a  century,  he  is  still  young  and  fresh,  and  ready  for 
fresh  departures.  Thus,  by  the  very  simplicity  of  its  educa- 
tion, is  fashioned  that  splendid  national  character  which  makes 
civilisation  a  servant  instead  of  a  master." 

France  is  justified  in  borrowing  from  her  neighbours  im- 
provements in  their  industrial  and  commercial  methods,  but 
she  is  in  danger  of  forgetting  the  essential  and  determining 
factor,  a  method,  simple  and  yet  not  without  a  greatness  of 
its  own,  of  training  men  and  workmen  in  such  a  way  as  to 
raise  them  to  the  level  of  the  changed  conditions  of  labour  and 
the  new  means  of  human  activity.  There  is  the  less  excuse 
for  hesitation  because  this  is  what  is  most  necessary  and  best 
worth  adopting.  Let  France  echo  the  sentiment  of  the 
Englishman  who  stood  on  a  foreign  shore,  and  tasted  the  sea 
water  and  cried,  "  This  is  salt,  this  belongs  to  us,"  and  say, 
"  This  is  indispensable,  this  is  excellent,  this  is  intelligent,  this 
is  ours." 

HENRI  DE  TOURVILLE. 


AUTHOK'S   PREFACE 


THE  work  here  presented  to  the  public  is  the  outcome  of 
some  months  personal  inquiry  in  England  and  Scotland,  and 
does  not  claim  to  be  more  than  an  orderly  exposition  of  its 
results. 

The  order  in  which  the  phenomena  observed  are  arranged 
is  directly  due  to  a  cause  which  is  not  difficult  to  discover, 
and  which  this  inquiry  shows  to  be  of  the  greatest  social  im- 
portance. This  cause  is  the  modern  evolution  of  industry  and 
commerce. 

We  all  know  that  machinery  tends  to  replace  manual 
labour  in  the  various  branches  of  industry,  and  that  the  in- 
dustrial system  is  being  constantly  modified  in  this  direction. 
All  branches  of  industry,  however,  are  not  equally  advanced 
along  these  new  lines.  There  are  survivals  of  the  old  system 
of  organisation  and  the  small  workshop  which  have  resisted 
the  introduction  of  machinery,  and  we  still  find  blacksmiths 
and  cutlers  working  without  the  assistance  of  any  motive  power. 
Other  trades,  though  largely  modified  by  the  economic  condi- 
tions of  to-day,  still  to  a  certain  extent  retain  the  same  tools  as 
in  the  past.  Take,  for  example,  the  extraction  of  coal,  where 
the  work  is  actually  performed  in  an  extremely  primitive  fashion 
by  the  miner's  pick,  but  which  owes  its  development  to  the 
growth  of  the  factory  system  and  of  steam  transport.  Lastly, 
we  have  the  industries  which  have  reached  the  furthest  point 
of  evolution  as  yet  known,  where  great  factories  represent 
the  type  of  organisation  and  where  machinery  plays  an  ever- 
increasing  part  in  the  production  of  goods  for  widespread  con- 
sumption. The  textile  industries  may  be  taken  as  an  example. 


xvi  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION 

Thus  there  are  three  stages  in  the  evolution  of  industry, 
which  must  be  carefully  distinguished  from  each  other,  because 
in  each  the  Labour  Question  assumes  a  special  form.  The 
three  parts  of  the  present  work  correspond  to  these  three 
stages,  and  deal  with  the  Labour  Question  in  the  small  work- 
shop, in  mines,  and  under  the  factory  system. 

The  small  workshop  shows  us  trades  of  the  ancient  type 
confronted  by  the  industrial  and  commercial  evolution.  In 
mines  we  have  a  particular  case  of  evolution,  an  organisation 
resembling  that  of  the  factory,  and  a  worker  of  the  ancient 
type.  The  factory  system  brings  us  to  trades  where  the  evolu- 
tion is  an  accomplished  fact. 

The  summary  at  the  head  of  each  chapter  will  help  the 
reader  to  seize  more  readily  the  link  connecting  the  facts 
observed,  and  to  follow  the  phases  of  evolution  which  have 
been  taken  as  the  basis  of  the  classification. 


NOTE  TO  THE  ENGLISH  EDITION 

IT  has  been  found  desirable  to  omit  a  few  sentences  in  the 
English  edition  of  M.  de  Kousiers'  book  on  the  Labour  Question 
in  Britain.  The  omitted  passages  consist,  in  most  cases,  of 
explanations  of  English  customs  and  objects  in  common  use, 
which  M.  de  Eousiers  inserted  for  French  readers  to  whom 
they  might  be  unfamiliar.  In  one  or  two  cases  allusions 
which  would  have  been  unintelligible  or  uninteresting  to 
English  readers  have  also  been  omitted. 

I  have  to  express  my  thanks  to  M.  de  Eousiers,  who  has 
very  kindly  read  the  whole  of  the  English  translation  in  proof, 
and  to  my  husband,  Mr.  A.  J.  Herbertson,  Lecturer  at  the 
Owens  College,  Manchester,  for  help  of  every  kind. 

F.  L.  D.  H. 

MANCHESTEB,  January  1896. 


CONTENTS 

PAKT    I 
THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS 

Trades  of  the  Old  Type  and  the  Industrial  and  Commercial  Evolution 
CHAPTER   I 

THE   PERSONAL   EVOLUTION   OF   THE   WORKER  WHO   ESCAPES   THE   CRISIS 
OF   THE   TRADE 

A  Birmingham  Tool-maker 

PAGES 

Interest  and  scope  of  monographs  of  families — I.  THE  WORKSHOP  OF 
JOSEPH  BROWN  —  A  prosperous  workman — Work  done — High 
wages  earned  by  blacksmiths — The  improvidence  of  Brown's  men 
— Their  irregularity — Falling  off  of  recruits  in  the  trade. — II.  THE 
CONSUMER  AND  THE  ARTICLES  PRODUCED — The  vogue  of  cheap 
machine-made  tools — Triumph  of  machinery  over  manual  work — 
Brown's  recognition  of  the  fact  and  his  action  in  consequence. — 
III.  JOSEPH  BROWN  AT  HOME — Description  and  valuation  of  his 
premises — Furniture — Living — Clothing — Service — Heating  and 
lighting — Expenses  connected  with  religion — Taxation — Budget 
— Why  Brown  has  prospered  in  a  decaying  industry. — IV.  THE 
PAST  AND  FUTURE  OF  THE  BROWN  FAMILY  —  Vicissitudes  of 
Brown's  life — Their  educational  value  to  himself  and  his  children 
— Children  treated  like  men — Dick's  emigration  to  New  Zealand 
and  his  success — Emigration  of'his  elder  brother — A  third  brother 
doing  well  in  Birmingham — Brown's  testamentary  intentions — 
His  attachment  to  progress  although  his  own  trade  is  ruined 
thereby  ........  3-44 


xx  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION 


CHAPTER   II 


THE   COLLECTIVE   RESISTANCE   OF   THE   TRADES   CHIEFLY   AFFECTED 
BY  THE   INDUSTRIAL   EVOLUTION 

PAGES 

Necessity  for  studying  the  claims  put  forward  by  Trade  Unions — Three 
phases  of  the  struggle — I.  CLOSE  TRADES  AS  YET  BUT  LITTLE 
MENACED  —  The  Gflassworkers  —  Limitation  of  the  number  of 
apprentices — Absence  of  non-unionist  men — Highly  skilled  nature 
of  the  work — The  strict  regulations  enacted  by  the  Unions  unsuc- 
cessful in  preventing  unemployment — The  Unions  succeed  in  main- 
taining normal  and  pacific  relations  between  masters  and  men — A 
picked  workman. — The  Cutlers — Skilled  manual  labour  in  the  great 
Sheffield  firms — Limitation  of  the  number  of  apprentices — Diffi- 
culties— Changes  in  Sheffield — Two  contrasted  types  of  workers — 
Disadvantages  of  corporations. — II.  THE  MENACED  TRADES — The 
Typographers — Impossibility  of  limiting  the  number  of  apprentices 
after  the  introduction  of  the  linotype — Short-sighted  character  of 
the  opposition  to  the  use  of  the  linotype. — The  Plumbers — Impossi- 
bility of  limiting  their  numbers  owing  to  the  progress  of  machinery 
— Similar  impossibility  in  other  trades  similarly  situated — Re- 
course to  State  intervention  a  proof  of  this. — III.  THE  VANQUISHED 
TRADES — Hand-loom  Weaving — History  of  a  Coventry  ribbon- 
maker —  Frequent  and  protracted  periods  of  unemployment  — 
Decay  of  the  trade — The  production  of  luxuries  the  last  refuge  of 
hand-loom  weavers  and  lace-makers — Difficulty  of  finding  recruits 
— Position  of  the  English  working  class  at  the  beginning  of  the 
century  ........  45-90 


CHAPTER   III 

THE   ORGANISATION   OF   THE   TRADES   CHIEFLY  MODIFIED   BY   THE 
COMMERCIAL  EVOLUTION 

I.  THE  PRODUCTION  OF  LUXURIES  UNDER  COMPETENT  MANAGEMENT 
— The  Birmingham  jewellery  trade  and  skilled  workmen — Reason 
for  the  absence  of  defensive  Unions — Rise  of  great  firms  owing  to 
the  increased  and  widespread  demand — Employment  of  skilled 
female  labour. — II.  THE  PRODUCTION  OF  Low -CLASS  ARTICLES 
UNDER  INCOMPETENT  MANAGEMENT — The  Sweating  System — Its 
wide  distribution  an  indication  of  a  generally  unsatisfactory  con- 
dition— The  sweating  system  in  the  East  End — Character  of  the 
trades  affected — Sweating  not  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  small 
workshop  or  chamber  workshop — The  cabinetmaker's  trade — The 
sweating  system  due  to  the  existence  of  penniless  employers — The 
existence  of  penniless  employers  due  to  the  facilities  offered  for 


CONTENTS  xxi 

PAGES 

starting  in  business  by  division  of  labour  and  increased  demand — 
Inspection  of  workshops  not  a  radical  cure — The  development  of 
machinery  would  put  an  end  to  sweating — The  sweating  system 
an  instance  of  the  drawbacks  attendant  upon  the  direction  of  the 
unfit  .  ....  91-114 


PAET    II 
THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  IN  MINES 

INTRODUCTION 

A  Special  Case  of  Evolution — An  Industry  Organised  on  the  Modern 

System  and  a  Worker  of  the  Ancient  Type   ....    117-118 

CHAPTER   I 

WHY  THE   MINER   HAS   REMAINED  A  WORKER  OF  THE  ANCIENT  TYPE 

I.  THE  SIMPLICITY  OF  THE  TOOLS — Description  of  the  work  done  in  a 
mine — Coal-hewing  by  hand — The  coal-cutting  machine — Stone- 
workers. —  II.  THE  MINER'S  TRADE  is  CONSERVATIVE  —  Why 
miners'  sons  are  attracted  to  the  mine — The  selection  of  the  unfit. 
— III.  THE  MINER'S  FIDELITY  TO  HIS  TRADE — A  miner  remains  a 
miner  even  if  he  emigrates — Miners  too  specialised  to  succeed  in 
the  United  States — The  isolation  of  mining  villages  strengthens 
the  link  between  miners  and  the  mine  ....  119-134 

CHAPTER   II 

WHY  THE   CONTROL  OF  THE  MINES   IS   OUT  OF  THE  MINER'S   REACH 

Vast  difference  between  the  coalowner  and  the  collier —I.  COLLIERY 
OWNERSHIP  AND  THE  RIGHTS  OF  THE  LANDLORD — Royalties — The 
owner  of  White  Hill  Colliery — Capital  required  to  work  the  mine 
— Capital  sunk  in  providing  miners'  houses  in  isolated  villages — 
Feuhold — Agitation  against  royalties. — II.  SCIENTIFIC  MINING 
AND  THE  TRAINING  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS — Two  types  of  mining 
engineer — The  theoretically  trained  engineer  is  not  the  character- 
istic English  type — The  engineer  must  be  practically  trained — 
Practical  and  theoretical  training  complementary — The  head  of 
the  company  working  colliery  is  often  himself  a  mining  engineer. 
— III.  THE  CLIENTELE  AND  THE  HAZARDS  OF  THE  TRADE  IN  COAL 
— Fluctuations  iu  the  price  of  coal — Home  and  foreign  markets — 


xxii  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION 

PAGES 

Causes  of  over-production — The  specialised  character  of  miners 
intensifies  the  disastrous  results  of  unemployment — Possible  fall- 
ing off  in  the  industrial  consumption  of  coal  —  Danger  for  the 
miners  in  the  event  of  such  a  contingency  .  .  .  .  135-159 


CHAPTER   III 

A  MINER'S  FAMILY  IN  THE  LOTHIANS 

Need  for  examining  a  well-to-do  family — I.  How  FISHER  EARNS  HIS 
LIVING — Length  of  the  working  day — Advantage  of  the  shorter 
working  day — The  stone- worker  a  small  contractor — Infrequency 
of  unemployment  at  White  Hill  Colliery — Its  frequency  in  the 
Midlands — Causes  of  the  difference — Fisher's  annual  earnings. 
— II.  THE  HOME  OF  THE  FISHER  FAMILY  —  House  —  Lower 
standard  of  comfort  in  Scotland — Miners'  houses  usually  owned 
by  the  colliery  proprietors  owing  to  the  isolation  of  the  mining 
village — Furniture — Food — Co-operative  Stores  and  their  value — 
Dress  —  Heating  —  Other  expenses  —  Balance-sheet. —  III.  How 
FISHER  BRINGS  UP  HIS  FAMILY — His  anxiety  to  find  a  wider 
sphere  for  his  children — Difficulties  of  the  task — Fisher's  stay  in 
the  United  States  a  valuable  factor  in  his  children's  education — 
Why  his  daughters  are  not  sent  into  factories — Domestic  service 
in  England — Educational  and  moralising  influences  in  a  small 
Scottish  village — The  influence  of  the  Press  .  .  .  160-199 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE  MINERS'  STRIKE  OF  1893 

Importance  of  the  struggle — I.  SPECIAL  CHARACTER  OF  THE  STRIKE 
IN  THE  DIFFERENT  MINING  DISTRICTS — The  four  great  mining 
districts  —  Why  Scotland  was  little  affected  —  Individualistic 
attitude  of  the  Northumberland  and  Durham  men — Defective 
organisation  of  the  Welsh  miners — The  Miners'  Unions  of  the 
Midlands  supporters  of  the  policy  of  concerted  action  —  Their 
power  of  choosing  fit  leaders — Difficulty  of  fixing  arbitrarily  the 
technical  qualification  of  representatives. — II.  THE  FORCE  OF  DIS- 
CIPLINE AND  THE  FORCE  OF  CIRCUMSTANCES — Impossibility  of 
obtaining  unreasonable  demands  by  mere  force  of  discipline — The 
living  wage  —  Arbitration  Boards. —  III.  ADVANTAGES  OF  THE 
ORGANISATION  OF  LABOUR  IN  MINES — Necessity  of  some  organisa- 
tion to  promote  a  good  understanding  between  masters  and  men 
— Useful  intervention  of  the  Government  in  the  strike  of  1893 — 
Diplomatic  relations  replacing  the  civil  war  between  masters  and 
men — Uselessness  of  Government  intervention  in  Scotland  owing 
to  the  defective  organisation  of  labour — Beneficial  influence  of 
Trade  Unions  on  the  career  of  individual  working  men  .  .  200-230 


CONTENTS  xxiii 

CHAPTER   V 

THE  MINERS'  DEMANDS 

PAGES 

The  object  is  to  prevent  unemployment — I.  SMALL  HOLDINGS  AND 
ALLOTMENTS — Periodical  unemployment  in  the  Midlands — Desire 
for  stable  conditions  of  employment — Absence  of  small  proprietors 
in  England — Legislation  and  its  difficulties — Renting  small  hold- 
ings a  better  solution  than  purchase. — II.  THE  EIGHT  HOURS 
DAY  FOR  MINERS — Opposition  to  local  option — The  real  object  to 
provide  against  unemployment — Why  the  Durham  and  North- 
umberland men  resist  a  compulsory  eight  hours  day.  —  III. 
LEGISLATIVE  LIMITATION  OF  PRODUCTION — Attitude  of  English 
and  German  delegates  at  the  Berlin  Congress — The  appeal  to 
legislation  due  to  inability  to  prevent  unemployment — How  the 
existing  organisation  of  labour  might  be  used  to  mitigate  the 
effects  of  unemployment  ......  231-246 


PART    III 
THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM 

Trades  which  have  accomplished  their  Evolution 

INTRODUCTION 

The  factory  system  the  characteristic  form  of  modern  industry — 
Advent  of  a  new  era  for  the  worker — Unforseen  problems  and 
increased  facilities  of  solution — Two  extreme  types  of  evolution 
under  the  factory  system  ......  249-252 

CHAPTER   I 

THE   IRON    INDUSTRY 

Machinery  subordinated  to  the  Workman 

Order  of  the  types  studied— I.  THE  CONSTRUCTION  OF  MACHINERY 
USED  IN  SPECIAL  TRADES — Weaving  and  Spinning  Looms — The 
works  of  Platt  Brothers  at  Oldham— Large  number  of  specialists 
employed — Absence  of  Trade  Unions  explained  by  absence  of  un- 
employment— Absence  of  unemployment  explained  by  the  first- 
class  reputation  of  the  firm — Advantageous  position  of  the  firm's 
workmen — Their  opportunities  of  advancement — Working  men  as 


v  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION 

PAOE3 

capitalists  and  employers  —  Dangers  of  the  situation. — II.  THE 
CONSTRUCTION  OF  MACHINERY  USED  FOR  TRANSPORT — Locomotive 
Works  and  Shipbuilding  Yards — Larger  and  more  varied  clientele 
— Workmen  less  specialised  in  two  respects — Skilled  workmen  at 
the  Brightside  Works,  Sheffield — In  the  works  of  Beyer  and 
Peacock  at  Gorton — At  Fairfield  Works,  Glasgow — In  a  Liverpool 
ship-repairing  yard — At  the  Ledsam  Works,  Birmingham — Diffi- 
culty of  preventing  unemployment — Consequent  strength  of  the 
Trade  Union  movement — Importance  of  Trade  Unions  in  de- 
specialised  trades — Opportunities  of  advancement  offered  by  the 
new  conditions — Some  Irish  types — Superiority  of  the  conditions 
offered  by  the  factory  system  to  those  offered  by  the  decaying 
small  trades. — III.  THE  MANUFACTURE  OF  ARTICLES  OF  ORDINARY 
USE — A  Coventry  bicycle  factory — Number  of  unskilled  workmen 
— Periodical  unemployment — Not  a  distinct  trade  but  a  new 
opening  for  iron- workers — A  Birmingham  nail  factory — Simplicity 
of  the  Avork — Female  labour — Low  wages  paid  to  women  in  the 
iron  trade  .  253-286 


CHAPTER    II 

THE  TEXTILE   INDUSTRIES 

The  Workman  subordinated  to  Machinery 

The  textile  industries  the  most  complete  example  of  the  triumph  of 
machinery — Increased  need  for  the  personal  development  of  the 
worker — I.  A  SILK  SPINNING  MILL  IN  YORKSHIRE — Charming 
situation  of  the  mill — Unemployment  prevented  by  the  accumula- 
tion of  stock — Dangers  of  such  a  proceeding — High  wages — Diffi- 
culty of  rising  in  such  unprogressive  surroundings  —  Draw- 
backs of  the  position  for  the  operatives  as  a  whole.—  II.  THE 
WOOLLEN  MANUFACTURE — Importance  of  this  industry  in  Great 
Britain — Order  of  types  studied — A  Glasgow  carpet  factory — 
Skilled  labour  and  female  labour — Weakness  of  Unions  due  to 
regularity  of  employment  and  the  character  of  the  population — 
Galashiels  tweed  mills — Character  of  the  operatives — Natural 
check  on  over-production — Advantageous  position  of  women — 
Absence  of  skilled  workers — A  Galashiels  family  of  the  working 
class — A  Scottish  home — Wages  of  father  and  daughters  compared 
— No  openings  for  young  men  in  Galashiels — Scottish  emigration 
— The  prosperity  of  the  town  due  to  the  infrequency  of  unemploy- 
ment and  the  readiness  to  emigrate — Influence  of  these  conditions 
on  the  tannery — The  Greenwood  Mills  at  Bradford  a  centre  of  the 
woollen  manufacture — Female  labour  less  highly  paid  than  in 
Galashiels — Reasons  for  the  difference — Infrequency  of  unemploy- 
ment— Some  typical  working-class  families — Two  distinct  types. — 
III.  THE  COTTON  INDUSTRY — Supremacy  of  Great  Britain  in  this 
industry — Dunfermline  and  the  manufacture  of  table  linen— 


CONTENTS  xxv 

PAGES 

Attachment  of  the  working-class  population  to  their  town  and 
their  trade — Infrequency  of  unemployment — Consequent  dangers 
— Strength  of  religious  convictions — Working-class  dwellings — A 
thread  factory  at  Paisley — Despecialised  nature  of  the  work — 
Lancashire  textile  operatives — Their  progress — The  great  textile 
strike  of  1892-93 — The  terms  of  peace  mark  the  beginning  of  a 
new  era  .  287-339 


CHAPTER    III 


THE   INDUSTRIES   OF   TRANSPORT 

The  Workman  wholly  independent  of  any  Special  Kind  of  Manufacture 

Despecialised  nature  of  the  industries  of  transport  with  respect  to  the 
material  transported — The  docker's  occupation  an  extreme  type 
of  despecialisation — I.  THE  ORGANISATION  OF  LABOUR  IN  THE 
DOCKS — Importance  of  the  London  docks — Stevedores  are  skilled 
labourers — Stevedores  and  ordinary  dockers — Work  at  the  Royal 
Albert  Docks — Number  of  dockers  out  of  work — Irregularity  of 
work  at  the  docks  not  the  only  cause  at  work — Influence  of  the 
disorganisation  of  other  trades  in  London — Different  classes  of  ' 

dockers — Advantages  of  the  List  System. — II.  AN  EAST  END 
DOCKER — Regularity  of  his  employment — Heavy  rent — Difficulty 
of  finding  work  for  young  women  in  London — Progress  among  the 
dockers. — III.  THE  DOCKERS'  UNIONS — The  strike  of  1889  and  its 
causes — Beneficial  effects  upon  the  organisation  of  the  dockers — 
The  Hull  Strike  —  Intended  to  secure  the  recognition  of  the 
Dockers'  Union — Proved  their  strength  and  their  weakness — 
Socialistic  tendencies  of  some  Trade  Unions  a  sign  of  weakness — 
The  elevation  of  the  worker  the  only  true  solution  of  the  Labour 
Question  ........  340-363 


CHAPTER    IV 

THE   MEANS  OF   ELEVATION   WITHIN  THE   REACH   OF   ENGLISH   WORKING 
MEN   FOR  THE   SOLUTION   OF  THE   LABOUR  QUESTION 

Summary  of  results — The  elevation  of  the  worker  the  pressing  necessity 
of  modern  times — The  influences  contributing  to  this  result — I. 
MEANS  OF  ELEVATION  DUE  TO  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  COMMERCE 
AND  INDUSTRY — Rise  of  Trade  Unionism — Trade  Unionism  brings 
to  the  front  the  most  gifted  of  the  working  class — Other  forms  of 
association — Trade  Unionism  diminishes  class  antagonism — Its 
effect  on  political  organisation — A  training  school  of  democracy. — 
II.  MEANS  OF  ELEVATION  FURNISHED  BY  THE  PRIVATE  INITIATIVE 
OF  THE  DIRECTING  CLASSES — General  feeling  of  the  upper  classes 


i  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION 

PAGES 

— Endeavours  to  diminish  the  number  of  the  incapable — A  Bir- 
mingham night-school — University  Extension — Toynbee  Hall — 
Glasgow  Workmen's  Dwellings  Company  —  Practical  spirit  in 
which  it  is  managed. — III.  MEANS  OF  ELEVATION  PROVIDED  BY 
THE  PUBLIC  AUTHORITIES — Distinction  between  beneficial  and 
harmful  legislation — Laws  tending  to  further  the  evolution  of 
industry — Institutions  of  similar  tendency — South  Kensington 
Museum — Legislation  usually  a  response  to  a  general  expression 
of  public  feeling — Legislation  and  the  eight  hours  day — English 
Socialism — Mr.  Sidney  Webb  and  Collectivism. — IV.  MEANS  OF 
ELEVATION  DUE  TO  THE  ENGLISH  CHARACTER — English  educa- 
tion— English  character — The  expansion  of  the  race — Success  due 
to  simple  means  of  self-reliance — Similar  means  will  lift  the 
worker  out  of  mediocrity  —  The  Labour  Question  can  only  be 
solved  in  this  way  .......  364-393 


PAET  I 

THE  LABOUE  QUESTION  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS 

TRADES  OF  THE  OLD  TYPE  AND  THE  INDUSTRIAL  AND 
COMMERCIAL  EVOLUTION 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  PERSONAL  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  WORKER  WHO  ESCAPES 
THE  CRISIS  OF  THE  TRADE 

A    BIRMINGHAM   TOOL-MAKER 

THE  Labour  Question  may  be  discussed  in  general  terms,  or  an 
attempt  may  be  made  to  throw  light  upon  it  by  the  study  of 
facts.  The  second  course  is  at  once  the  wiser  and  the  more 
fruitful  in  results,  but  it  gives  rise  to  a  difficulty.  Facts  may 
either  be  observed  haphazard  and  grouped  arbitrarily,  or  they 
may  be  investigated  in  the  order  of  their  natural  grouping, 
that  is,  in  their  true  and  vital  relations.  Observation,  unless 
it  is  brought  to  bear  on  living  organisms,  and  unless  it  exhibits 
the  play  of  social  forces  as  it  occurs  in  real  life,  gives  but 
scanty  results,  and  even  in  these  there  is  always  a  risk  of 
error. 

Hence  arises  the  need  for  monographs  of  families ;  for  the 
family  is  the  essential  and  primordial  organism  of  all  society. 
If  we  wish,  for  instance,  to  estimate  the  present  position  of 
small  workshops  of  the  old  type  in  England,  and  of  the 
successful  competition  of  the  great  factories  equipped  with 
mechanical  power,  it  is  not  enough  to  content  ourselves  with 
such  generalised  information  as  is  furnished  by  statistics,  but 
we  must  put  ourselves,  as  far  as  possible,  in  the  place  of  a 
workman  in  one  of  these  small  workshops,  we  must  penetrate 
his  family  life,  understand  his  difficulties,  share  his  hopes,  and 
appreciate  his  means  of  action.  Thus  we  get  to  know  the 
Labour  Question  as  it  concerns  him.  If  he  succeeds  in  his 


4  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

enterprises,  and  in  providing  for  his  family,  he  will  be  able  to 
teach  us  at  the  same  time  how  he  settles  the  Labour  Question 
for  himself. 

Such  is  the  interest  of  a  monograph,  and  such  is  its  scope. 
Therefore,  without  further  justification,  we  shall  plunge  at  once 
into  the  heart  of  our  subject. 

I.   The  Workshop  of  Joseph  Brown. 

My  first  interview  with  Joseph  Brown  was  brought  about 
by  a  curious  coincidence.  I  had  informed  my  Birmingham 
friends  of  my  wish  to  enter  into  personal  relations  with  a 
workman  belonging  to  one  of  the  small  workshops  still  so 
numerous  in  that  town.  One  evening  the  mistress  of  the 
house  said  to  me,  "  I  think  I  have  found  what  you  want.  My 
nurse  has  a  brother  who  has  a  little  forge,  where  he  makes 
various  tools — pincers,  hammers,  etc. ;  she  has  spoken  of  you 
at  my  request,  and  he  is  quite  willing  to  receive  you,  and  to 
give  you  any  information  you  may  need."  Next  day  I  took 
the  Nechells  omnibus  to  Carlton  Street.  I  found  a  gate  on 
which  was  painted  the  name  Carlton  Works.  Entering,  I 
found  myself  under  a  porch  looking  into  a  long  narrow  court, 
at  the  bottom  of  which  was  a  small  building  two  storeys  high, 
whose  blackened  walls  were  illuminated  by  the  red  glare  of 
a  forge.  Thither  I  directed  my  steps,  and  as  I  crossed  the 
threshold  a  little  man  who  was  hammering  on  the  anvil 
stopped  his  work  and  came  towards  me.  "Mr.  Joseph 
Brown  ? "  "  Yes  ? "  "I  have  come  from  your  sister,  Mrs. 

D 's  nurse."     "  You  are  the  gentleman,  then,  of  whom  she 

spoke  ? "  "I  am."  The  little  man  wiped  his  forehead,  on 
which  the  sweat  stood*  in  great  beads,  put  on  his  jacket,  and 
was  ready  to  let  me  see  his  establishment.  He  was,  in  fact, 
at  home,  for  the  workshop,  the  other  buildings  surrounding 
the  court,  the  shop  which  bounded  one  side  of  the  porch,  the 
neat,  well-cared-for  dwelling,  the  little  bit  of  garden  with  its 
walls  covered  by  creepers,  were  all  his  own  property.  All  this 
he  had  built  and  organised,  and  had  earned  it  all  too.  "  I 
have  never  had  a  penny  from  anybody,"  he  said ;  "  neither  from 
my  own  parents  nor  from  my  wife's."  My  first  impression 
was  that  the  trade  was  a  good  one,  and  afforded  a  good  living. 


CHAP,  i  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  5 

Brown  had  brought  up  a  family  of  eight  children,  had  acquired 
property,  and  become  an  employer.  Obviously  he  is  a  type 
of  the  prosperous  workman. 

Let  us  enter  the  workshop.  The  ground  floor  is  occupied 
by  three  or  four  forges  with  their  anvils,  at  one  of  which 
Brown  was  working  when  I  arrived,  for  though  he  has  become 
an  employer,  he  still  remains  a  workman,  and  though  he  is 
fifty  years  of  age,  he  still  flatters  himself  that  no  smith  in 
Birmingham  can  turn  out  better  or  quicker  work.  Ascending 
to  the  first  storey  we  find  no  forges :  this  is  the  finishing 
department.  A  man  is  filing  a  pair  of  strong  pincers  in  order 
to  polish  them,  another  is  cutting  unequal  teeth  on  a  steel  ring 
meant  to  enter  into  the  composition  of  a  tool  for  a  saddle  and 
harness  maker.  Brown  explained  that  he  worked  a  good  deal 
for  saddlers  and  bootmakers.  He  manufactures  a  great 
number  of  different  patterns,  and  declared  his  readiness  to 
execute  any  of  which  a  design  was  supplied.  Six  men  are  at 
work  in  the  upper  workshop,  making  ten  perhaps  in  all,  but 
he  has  often  employed  as  many  as  two -and -twenty.  At 
present  he  has  not  many  orders  in  hand. 

All  the  men  are  skilled  workmen,  and  those  who  make  the 
bigger  tools  have  to  be  smiths.  I  saw  Brown  and  his  assistant 
forging  long  and  stout  pincers  of  a  particular  shape.  These, 
when  closed,  have  a  hollow  groove  at  the  end,  of  the  exact 
diameter  of  a  gas -pipe.  They  are  for  gripping  pipes  when 
fixing  or  removing  them,  and  are  indispensable  to  gasfitters. 
They  are  also  used  for  fixing  and  repairing  water-pipes.  The 
largest  size  in  use  is  only  worth  a  shilling ;  this  is  the  one 
which  I  saw  made.  A  dozen  pairs  were  lying  on  the  ground 
to  cool  at  the  foot  of  the  anvil,  representing  a  morning's  work. 

However,  everybody  works  very  quickly  here ;  the  men 
move  quickly  and  efficiently.  There  is  no  effort  wasted  and 
no  talking.  French  workmen,  so  energetic  by  starts,  would 
find  it  difficult  to  equal  the  rate  of  production.  I  made  this 
remark  to  my  friends  in  Birmingham.  One  of  them,  of  French 
origin,  a  merchant  of  precious  stones,  told  me  he  had  often 
tried  to  introduce  French  workmen  into  one  of  the  numerous 
jewel  manufactories  in  Birmingham.  The  experiment  had 
never  succeeded :  the  masters  found  that  the  work  was  not 
turned  out  fast  enough. 


6  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

Brown's  workmen  are  paid  by  the  piece.  Work  begins  at 
seven  every  day  except  Sundays,  and  leaves  off  at  seven  at 
night  except  on  Saturdays,  when  it  ends  at  two.  It  is  a 
general  custom  in  England  to  work  only  half  a  day  on 
Saturday,  and  on  the  other  days  work  is  interrupted  for  two 
hours,  to  give  the  men  time  for  meals  and  for  a  little  rest. 
Thus  there  are  five  days  of  ten  hours  and  one  day  of  five 
hours,  or  fifty-five  hours  a  week. 

However  each  workman  does  not  make  up  this  number  of 
hours  of  work  every  week.  One,  for  instance,  never  arrives 
before  nine  o'clock ;  others  occasionally  extend  the  Sunday 
holiday  until  Tuesday  or  Wednesday,  if  last  week's  pay  is  not 
completely  exhausted.  Brown  complains  greatly  of  these 
irregularities,  but  bears  them  in  silence  in  order  to  keep  his 
men.  As  I  have  said,  they  are  skilled  workers,  and  not  to  be 
replaced  by  the  first  comer,  and  rare,  for  apprenticeship  no 
longer  exists  in  the  trade.  Consequently  smiths  profit  by  the 
situation  to  act  as  they  like,  knowing  that  the  employer  cannot 
easily  do  without  them. 

Naturally,  under  these  circumstances,  wages  are  high. 
I  was  shown  the  pay-books  of  the  workmen,  and  noticed  weeks 
at  £2  :  8s.,  while  nearly  all  came  to  £2  for  regular  workmen. 
It  is  highly  paid  work.  Brown  explained  to  me  that,  yielding 
to  the  request  of  his  men,  he  had  for  several  years  allowed  a 
bonus  of  5  per  cent  on  the  prices  fixed  for  piece-work. 
Thus,  for  example,  if  a  workman  has  done  work  to  the  extent 
of  £2  a  week,  he  is  paid  £2  :  2s. 

"  Your  men  should  be  in  comfortable  circumstances  with 
wages  like  this,"  I  said.  "  Not  a  bit  of  it,"  he  replied.  "  I 
don't  know  one  who  has  a  shilling  in  hand,  and  they  are  all 
married.  You  see  how  it  is.  When  they  have  a  little  money, 
it  goes  in  eating  and  drinking,  and  as  soon  as  they  feel  they 
have  a  few  shillings  in  their  pocket  they  leave  off  work. 
Then  there  is  also  a  great  deal  of  gambling  and  betting.  Last 
year  a  queer  thing  happened  over  this.  My  son  Joe,  who  is 
with  me  here,  has  the  most  enterprising  mind  I  know  for  a 
lad  of  nineteen,  and  never  loses  a  chance  of  doing  a  good 
stroke  of  business.  An  idea  occurred  to  him  which  I'll  tell 
you.  My  men  often  talked  of  their  sporting  tastes  before 
him,  and  regretted  they  had  no  ready  money  to  put  on  horses 


CHAP,  i  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  ^ 

they  fancied.  '  Would  you  like  me  to  advance  it,'  said  Joe 
one  day.  '  You  can  let  me  have  it  back  on  pay-day  with  a 
small  commission.'  No  sooner  said  than  done,  and  so  great 
was  the  attraction  of  ready  money  for  these  improvident 
fellows  that  Joe  found  the  number  of  his  clients  increasing 
every  week.  Luckily  I  happened  to  put  my  hand  on  the 
note -book  in  which  he  set  down  his  banking  operations, 
and  asked  for  an  explanation,  which  he  gave  me  quite  frankly, 
saying  that  after  all  it  was  their  business  if  they  agreed  to 
exorbitant  interest.  I  was  obliged  to  read  him  a  sermon,  and 
forbid  him  for  the  future  to  exploit  men  in  my  employ.  This 
will  show  you  what  these  men  are." 

Brown  does  not  seem  to  be  an  indulgent  employer  in 
speaking  of  his  men.  At  bottom  he  has  but  a  poor  opinion 
of  men  who  find  it  hard  to  make  a  living  for  themselves  and 
their  families  in  a  trade  where  he  has  been  able  to  raise  him- 
self and  his  family  to  a  good  position.  This  feeling  is  very 
general  among  small  employers  who  have  sprung  from  the 
working  class,  and  still  in  part  belong  to  it.  Knowing  the 
right  way  to  succeed,  and  still  faithful  to  the  same  mode  of 
life  as  their  men,  they  pay  little  attention  to  their  claims,  and 
never  willingly  pity  them.  The  head  of  a  large  concern,  even 
when  he  too  began  as  a  working  man,  more  easily  loses  sight 
of  the  working-class  life  and  adopts  different  habits,  which 
render  him  comparatively  sympathetic  towards  the  narrow 
conditions  of  a  working  man's  life.  The  same  phenomenon  is 
seen  everywhere.  In  the  country  districts  of  France,  the 
peasant  who  has  enriched  himself  is,  generally  speaking,  far 
harder  to  the  working  man  than  the  great  landowner.  The 
small  employer  is  more  exacting  than  the  head  of  a  factory 
would  venture  to  be,  the  non-commissioned  officer  is  generally 
more  inflexible  than  the  officer,  and  so  on. 

This  circumstance  is  particularly  noticeable  in  Brown, 
because  he  is  of  a  naturally  kindly  disposition.  At  my  first 
visit,  seeing  I  was  really  interested  in  his  work,  he  took  a 
liking  to  me,  and  in  our  subsequent  relations  neither  his  kind- 
ness nor  his  good-humour  ever  flagged  for  an  instant.  When 
he  spoke  of  his  wife,  it  was  with  a  warmth  which  was  very 
pleasing  in  a  man  who  had  been  married  more  than  five-and- 
twenty  years ;  his  children  speak  to  him  with  confidence  and 


8  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

without  constraint.  Nevertheless,  towards  his  men  his  attitude 
is  not  fatherly. 

No  agreement  binds  them  to  him  for  more  than  a  week. 
He  regulates  their  number  according  to  the  orders  he  receives ; 
in  practice  this  number  varies  from  ten  to  twenty-two.  The 
workmen,  on  their  side,  do  not  always  observe  even  a  week's 
bargain.  When  it  suits  them  they  stop  away  from  work  for  a 
day  or  a  couple  of  days,  or  when  they  come  they  come  late. 
Brown  complains  of  their  irregularity.  "  But  why,"  I  inquired, 
"  do  you  not  dismiss  them  in  such  a  case  ?  Does  not  their 
bargain  oblige  them  to  give  you  a  week's  work,  as  it  obliges 
you  to  furnish  them  work  for  the  same  period  ? "  "  Of  course, 
but  if  I  did  so  I  should  not  get  others.  What  can't  be  cured 
must  be  endured.  I  must  tell  you,"  he  added,  "  that  master 
smiths  are  rare  here.  You  already  know  that  for  some  years 
we  have  had  no  apprentices.  I  do  not  train  any  myself,  nor 
do  I  want  to.  I  should  have  a  great  deal  of  trouble  to  find 
any,  and  if  I  found  them  they  would  ask  too  high  wages.  I 
was  seventeen  myself  when  I  learned  the  trade,  and  I  had 
previously  worked  in  railway  workshops,  so  that  I  was  not 
without  experience.  From  seventeen  to  twenty  I  only  earned 
12s.  a  week,  and  14s.  from  twenty  to  twenty-one.  Now  a 
lad  of  eighteen  would  ask  £1  a  week,  and  I  should  lose 
by  it.  That  is  the  reason  you  see  no  apprentices  in  my 
shop ;  and  yet  I  have  trained  a  good  many  men  in  my  time, 
and  I  do  not  think  it  is  exaggeration  to  say  that  seven  of  the 
best  workmen  in  Birmingham  came  from  my  hands.  However, 
times  are  changed." 

"Then,  when  trade  is  very  brisk,  you  must  have  some 
difficulty  in  getting  good  workmen  ? " 

"  That  is  so ;  there  is  so  much  difficulty  that  we  get  them 
taken  away  from  us.  Here  is  a  case  that  happened  last  week. 
A  Sheffield  employer,  who  was  short  of  men  and  could  not  get 
any  on  the  spot,  came  and  hired  one  of  my  best  finishers  and 
took  him  away  with  him." 

"  Then  he  pays  at  a  much  higher  rate  than  you  ? " 

"  Not  exactly,  but  he  advances  ready  money.  Generally — 
for  the  case  is  a  common  one — the  man  gets  £20  on  loan,  and 
travelling  expenses  for  himself  and  family,  as  compensation  for 
removal.  Then  they  go  to  a  solicitor  and  enter  into  a  contract 


CHAP,  i  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  9 

in  due  form,  the  workman  agreeing  to  work  four  or  five  years 
for  his  master.  All  mention  of  the  money  lent  is  carefully 
omitted,  for  English  law  would  refuse  to  recognise  an 
engagement  agreed  to  under  such  circumstances.  The  man 
gives  his  employer  an  acknowledgment  of  the  £20  and  the 
thing  is  done.  There  would  be  only  half  the  mischief  if  the 
man  used  the  money  well,  but  nine  times  out  of  ten  he  spends 
it  on  drink  and  amusement,  supposing  he  does  not  go  to  the 
seaside  for  a  holiday  with  his  wife  and  family.  When  he  is 
drained  dry,  he  goes  to  his  new  work  loaded  with  a  debt  which 
he  rarely  manages  to  wipe  out,  and  which  puts  him  at  his 
master's  mercy." 

It  must  be  admitted  that  this  new  circumstance  confirms 
in  a  very  striking  manner  Brown's  unfavourable  judgment  on 
the  improvidence  of  his  men.  It  also  denotes  a  disquieting 
state  of  things  in  his  trade.  It  is  obtaining  no  fresh  recruits, 
and  master  smiths  are  becoming  a  rarity,  and  profit  by  that  to 
dictate  terms  to  employers.  The  employer,  in  his  turn, 
charges  a  higher  price  to  his  customers,  who  leave  him  directly 
a  competing  firm  offers  less  prohibitive  prices ;  so  that  the 
workmen's  demands  ultimately  deprive  them  of  work.  The 
more  intelligent  among  them  will  come  to  see  this.  Quite 
recently  one  of  Brown's  men  said  to  him,  when  he  came  for 
his  week's  wages,  "  Trade  is  very  bad,  isn't  it  ? "  "  Very." 
"  It  has  always  been  so,  hasn't  it,  since  we  got  that  rise  of  5 
per  cent  ? "  "I  made  no  answer,"  said  Brown  when  he  told 
me  the  circumstance,  "  because  I  did  not  wish  to  discuss  the 
matter  with  him,  but  the  man  was  quite  right.  When  they 
came  and  asked  for  the  rise  I  had  a  large  number  of  press- 
ing orders,  and  could  not  refuse.  All  I  said  was,  'I  don't 
mind  giving  you  this  5  per  cent,  because,  of  course,  I 
shall  make  my  customers  pay ;  but  if  orders  fall  off  I  shall 
not  keep  you  at  work  to  encumber  myself  with  stock.'  And 
as  the  Sheffield  men  had  not  asked  the  rise,  the  triumph 
of  the  Birmingham  men  on  this  point  did  them  the  greatest 
harm." 

Neither  Brown  nor  even  his  men,  it  will  be  seen,  are  under 
the  illusion  that  the  Labour  Question  is  limited  to  the  conflicts 
of  capital  and  labour :  they  have  a  clear  and  precise  under- 
standing that  both  capital  and  labour,  employer  and  workman, 


io  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

are  dominated  by  a  third  factor,  which  in  the  long  run  decides 
— the  consumer. 

II.  The,  Consumer  and  the  Articles  produced. 

In  the  present  case  it  is  easy  to  find  the  link  uniting  the 
consumer  and  the  producer.  We  have  seen  that  the  trade  is 
getting  in  no  fresh  blood,  that  workmen  are  tending  to  dis- 
appear. Let  us  follow  Brown  into  the  shop  where  he  sets 
out  his  produce,  and  learn  from  him  how  customers  are  lost. 
This  is  the  cause  of  all  the  rest,  for  if  there  are  no  more 
workmen  it  is  because  consumers  are  diminishing. 

Here,  as  elsewhere,  cheapness  is  the  first  consideration. 
On  the  whole,  the  demand  for  carefully  made  tools,  wrought 
entirely  by  hand  by  the  same  workmen,  is  giving  place  to  a 
demand  for  a  common  tool,  made  wholesale  in  a  factory. 

"Everything  I  make,"  said  Brown,  "is  of  good  quality. 
I  sell  no  rubbish,  .and  this  is  the  only  way  that  I  manage  to 
make  headway,  for  a  common  article  can  be  made  by  machinery 
at  a  cheaper  rate  than  I  can  make  it.  Still,  they  are  getting 
to  produce  a  better  and  better  quality,  so  that  the  demand  in 
my  trade  is  always  decreasing.  See  those  rows  of  cards  of 
pincers,  plyers,  hammers,  awls,  chisels,  etc.  I  remember  a 
time  when  I  hardly  ever  kept  a  dozen  of  an  article  in  stock, 
and  when  I  had  the  greatest  difficulty  in  executing  the  orders 
which  flowed  in.  Evidently  we  are  destined  to  disappear 
before  long.  Machinery  is  killing  us." 

"  Is  it  really  machinery  only  which  is  killing  you  ?  Do 
you  not  find  yourself  placed  at  a  disadvantage  in  comparison 
with  large  manufacturers  in  the  purchase  of  raw  materials, 
for  example  ? " 

"  No  doubt ;  but  the  consequent  disadvantage  is  not  very 
considerable.  If  I  manufactured  on  a  large  scale  I  should 
send  my  orders  for  the  purchase  of  iron  and  steel  to  some  big 
ironworks  in  Sheffield  or  Birmingham.  For  that  I  should 
have  to  order  ten  tons  at  once.  This  quantity  would  be  too 
much  for  me,  so  I  go  to  an  agent,  who  gets  a  commission  of 
about  6d.  a  ton.  That  is  a  mere  trifle,  as  you  see,  and  is 
certainly  compensated  for  by  the  advantage  I  gain  by  super- 
intending my  whole  workshop  personally,  and  by  avoiding  the 
expense  of  subordinates,  storekeepers,  foremen,  etc.  With  the 


CHAP,  i  IN  SMALL   WORKSHOPS  n 

help  of  my  son,  who  is  nineteen,  I  manage  the  whole  business. 
I  give  him  a  salary  of  30s.  a  week,  and  he  takes  my  place  and 
superintends  when  I  am  obliged  to  be  absent.  In  particular, 
he  relieves  me  of  the  commercial  part.  These  are  favourable 
conditions,  but  I  repeat,  we  have  a  terrible  foe  in  machinery, 
which  will  make  smiths  disappear  before  long.  The  quality 
of  the  goods  will  suffer,  but  our  customers  are  willing  to 
sacrifice  quality  to  cheapness." 

While  we  were  talking  thus  the  gate  opened,  and  Mr. 
Joseph  Brown  jun.  came  in,  driving  a  light  two-wheeled  cart, 
drawn  by  a  Welsh  pony.  He  had  just  been  delivering  goods 
to  customers  in  Birmingham.  This  is  one  of  his  functions,  to 
supply  customers  himself.  This  is  an  additional  advantage  for 
his  father,  who  is  thus  saved  the  cost  of  carriage,  and  has  also 
an  additional  guarantee  that  orders  are  well  executed,  that 
the  exact  amount  is  paid  in,  and  so  forth.  It  is  obvious  that 
Brown's  business  is  conducted  under  the  most  favourable  con- 
ditions permitted  by  the  existing  organisation  of  the  trade.  It 
is  nevertheless  insecure,  and  consequently  it  must  be  the  trade 
which  is  going  down. 

I  examined  the  little  cart.  It  was  strongly  built,  and 
capable  of  carrying  about  ^  ton  of  goods.  It  was  nearly  new, 
and  had  cost  16  guineas.  The  horse  cost  £24  five  years  ago, 
and  has  other  uses  beside  distributing  goods.  It  is  often 
harnessed  to  a  neat  pony-cart,  that  its  master  may  get  a  little 
fresh  air  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town.  Thus  the  cost  of  dis- 
tribution is  reduced  to  a  very  trifling  sum. 

But  by  far  the  most  interesting  figure  of  all  was  the  son, 
a  good-looking  lad,  whose  appearance  was  prepossessing  and 
intelligent.  He  received  me  with  ease  and  without  embarrass- 
ment. He  has  gone  through  some  apprenticeship  in  his 
father's  workshop,  but  did  not  devote  himself  to  the  heavier 
work  of  the  forge,  for  which  he  was  barely  old  enough.  How- 
ever, he  knows  the  secrets  of  handling  and  working  iron  and 
steel,  and  he  showed  me  a  light  bicycle  he  had  made,  and 
reasoned  out  its  construction  with  considerable  ingenuity. 
Brown  does  not  intend  to  apprentice  his  son  to  the  smith's 
trade :  he  is  too  alive  to  the  inevitable  decadence  of  the  trade 
to  compromise  his  son's  future  in  a  branch  of  industry  which 
is  already  condemned.  That  is  why  he  has  put  him  into  the 


12  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

commercial  part  of  the  business,  where  what  he  learns  applies 
not  to  this  or  that  special  trade,  but  to  business  in  general. 
If  his  father  were  to  retire  to-morrow,  the  son  would  find 
himself  quite  fit  to  enter  business  either  in  an  iron-foundry  or 
in  any  other  branch,  either  at  Birmingham  or  elsewhere.  His 
father  has  a  high  opinion  of  him,  and  expressed  himself  to  me 
thus :  "  Whatever  article  it  is,  Joe  can  tell  you  at  once  where  you 
will  get  the  best  quality  in  Birmingham,  at  the  lowest  price." 

Such  a  young  man  is  unquestionably  fit  for  business.  He 
it  was  who  thought  of  organising  the  little  bank  already 
mentioned  to  exploit  his  father's  men.  He  loses  no  chance  of 
profit,  and  detects  chance  as  an  experienced  hunter  detects  the 
presence  of  game.  In  short,  as  his  father  says,  he  is  a  smart 
fellow.  Brown  is  no  stranger  to  his  son's  commercial  aptitudes. 
The  decay  of  his  trade  has  turned  him  from  technical  specialism : 
he  no  longer  believes  that  a  workman  is  sure  of  a  living  if  he 
knows  a  trade  well,  and  is  perfectly  well  aware  that  to-day 
an  old  trade  disappears  without  difficulty  before  some  new 
invention,  and  that  security  can  be  found  only  in  the  power 
of  prompt  readjustment,  and  in  the  ability  to  pass  from  one 
occupation  to  another  as  circumstances  require.  Business 
lends  itself  marvellously  to  these  sudden  changes,  and  Brown 
is  so  conscious  of  this  that  he  often  says,  by  way  of  practical 
advice,  "  Buying  and  selling  is  the  best  trade." 

Further,  as  an  employer  he  is  obliged  to  engage  in 
transactions  for  the  purchase  of  raw  material  and  the  sale  of 
articles  manufactured.  This  has  been  an  apprenticeship  to 
business.  He  often  travels  to  look  up  his  customers,  make 
offers,  and  receive  orders.  He  has  thus  worked  up  a  business 
which  he  reckons  he  could  sell  for  £600.  There  is  only  a 
step  from  this  to  trade  pure  and  simple,  and  this  step  Brown 
frequently  takes.  On  occasion  he  undertakes  commissions  for 
Birmingham  wares,  kitcheners,  stoves,  fireplaces,  iron  beds,  etc. 
He  even  recognises  that  transactions  of  this  kind,  when  he 
devotes  himself  to  them,  bring  him  more  profit  than  his  smithy. 
"  I  should  earn  more,"  he  said,  "  by  travelling  for  a  large 
house,  but  I  am  too  old  now  to  give  up  my  trade,  my  inde- 
pendence, and  my  home."  What  he  himself  cannot  do  his  son 
will  do,  and  he  finds  in  his  father's  shop  a  school  which  gives 
him  the  business  education  necessarv. 


CHAP,  i  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  13 

Thus  Brown  draws  from  his  trade  all  that  can  be  drawn 
from  it.  He  has  found  in  it  the  means  to  raise  himself,  for 
at  it  he  has  gained  everything  he  possesses ;  and  now  that  the 
trade  is  decaying  and  is  on  the  point  of  disappearing,  he  still 
finds  in  it  the  means  of  providing  for  his  children's  future. 
At  the  present  moment  it  is  Joe  who  profits.  Before  him, 
two  other  brothers  now  in  New  Zealand,  and  a  third,  employed 
in  business  in  Birmingham,  have  similarly  profited,  as  will  his 
two  younger  brothers,  if  their  father  lives. 

This  sounds  simple  enough,  but  nevertheless  it  is  not  simple. 
Other  workmen  hang  on  in  desperation  to  a  declining  trade, 
insist  on  severe  regulations  for  the  protection  of  their  trade, 
have  recourse  to  public  agitation  and  to  complex  organisa- 
tions, in  order  to  maintain  by  artificial  means  a  state  of  things 
which  is  disappearing,  and,  after  all,  they  fail.  Brown  asks 
nothing  of  any  one :  he  recognises  that  his  trade  will  not  be 
worth  to  his  children  what  it  has  been  worth  to  him,  he 
has  made  up  his  mind  to  leave  the  trade  before  the  trade 
leaves  him,  and  is  seeking  a  future  for  his  children  else- 
where. Only,  like  a  practical  man,  he  avails  himself  of 
the  favourable  conditions  offered  by  his  trade  to  prepare  them 
for  another. 

Without  appearing  to  do  so,  this  man  has  quietly  and  com- 
pletely solved  the  Labour  Question  so  far  as  it  concerns,  him. 
I  might  add  the  social  question  too,  his  social  question,  and 
that  is  why  he  is  specially  interesting.  His  life  is  a  lesson, 
which  we  might  relate  to  many  English  and  foreign  workmen, 
and  say  "  JEt  nunc  erudimini"  if  it  were  still  the  fashion  to 
speak  Latin.  Even  outside  the  working  class  many  people 
might  find  a  lesson  in  it.  For  my  part,  I  declare  I  have 
learned  much  in  Brown's  school,  and  I  sincerely  wish  to  inspire 
my  readers  with  the  impressions  which  I  experienced  as  I 
listened  to  him.  And  now  that  we  know  him  in  his  workshop, 
we  will  penetrate  into  his  home  and  enter  his  private  life.  It 
is,  in  fact,  necessary  to  see  how  he  has  organised  his  family  life, 
if  we  wish  to  understand  the  causes  of  his  success. 

III.  Joseph  Brown  at  Home. 
Brown's  dwelling  adjoins  his  shop,  and  is  separated  from 


THE  LABOUR  QUESTION 


PART  I 


his  workshop  only  by  a  little  strip  of  garden  taken  off  the 
court.  Brown  told  me  that  the  ground  had  originally  been 
sold  by  a  building  society  in  three  separate  lots — one  to  him 
directly,  the  other  two  to  persons  who  were  unable  to  use  them 
for  building,  and  who  sold  them  to  him  on  favourable  terms. 
There  had  been  enough  ground  for  three  working  men's  houses, 
and  the  three  lots  together  allowed  him  to  build  everything  he 
required.  The  land  cost  him,  on  an  average,  6s.  4^-d.  a  square 
yard,  and  measured  760  square  yards  (46  yards  long  by  a 
frontage  of  16^  yards  on  Carlton  Street);  the  total  cost  in 
round  figures  was  about  £240.  To-day,  the  same  ground 
would  be  worth  far  more  owing  to  the  building  of  Nechells. 
"  All  that  used  to  be  fields,"  he  said.  One  may  judge  of  the 
difference  by  the  fact  that,  after  spending  £1000  in  build- 
ing, he  values  the  whole  at  £1400. 

PLAN  OP  BROWN'S  PKEMISES. 


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SHOP 

illinium 

SHOP 

PIG- 
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COACH- 
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STABLE 

WORK- 
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WORKSHOP 

• 

J  SITTING 
ROOM 

,     PASSAGE      |  n,  „,,.,,, 

GARDEN 

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WORK- 
SHOP 

KITCHEN 

^    PASSAGE 

WASH- 
HOUSE 

Glancing  at  the  plan  of  the  ground,  we  are  struck  by  its 
preponderating  length.  It  must  be  noted  too,  that  it  is  three 
times  as  wide  as  the  plots  originally  bought  for  workmen's 
dwellings,  for  which  a  frontage  of  5^  yards  is  the  ordinary  one. 
That  is  sufficient  to  allow  room  for  a  front  door  opening  into  a 
narrow  passage,  and  for  a  room  with  one  window.  Brown's 
house,  which  is  built  on  this  plan,  occupies  only  a  third  of  the 
Carlton  Street  frontage.  The  remaining  11  yards  give  room 
for  the  gate  and  the  shop.  Plots  of  ground  for  working  men's 
dwellings  are  generally  long  narrow  slips  like  this,  and  the 
arrangement  I  remarked  in  Birmingham  may  be  found  in  a 
number  of  other  English  towns,  while  I  have  also  noticed  it  in 
the  United  States,  where  the  same  size  of  frontage  is  common. 
It  allows  a  working-class  family  to  add  to  the  dwelling-house 
proper  a  number  of  out-buildings  for  washing  and  drying  linen, 


CHAP,  i  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  15 

and  occasionally  a  little  garden.  There  is  also  the  advantage 
that  free  circulation  of  air  is  set  up  between  the  rows  of 
houses,  and  this  is  a  condition  of  health.  It  must  be  under- 
stood that  all  Birmingham  workmen  are  not  thus  placed :  the 
old  quarters  in  the  heart  of  the  town  too  often  present  a  scene 
of  frightful  overcrowding.  Even  in  recently  built  houses 
there  may  not  infrequently  be  remarked  an  arrangement  more 
economical,  but  far  less  happy.  I  allude  to  courts,  an  arrange- 
ment which  permits  of  the  accumulation  of  a  series  of  little 
houses  or  even  of  working-class  tenements,  while  giving  each 
family  a  separate  entrance.  This  is  perhaps  better  than  the 
Continental  system  of  huge  barracks,  six  storeys  high,  with  a 
common  entrance  and  staircase,  where  promiscuity  begets  con- 
ditions of  physical  and  moral  disease,  but  it  is  a  far  lower  type 
than  the  other. 

Here,  we  are  in  the  home  of  a  specially  prosperous  working 
man,  inasmuch  as  he  has  become  a  master  workman,  but  never- 
theless his  mode  of  living  differs  little  from  that  of  the  other 
well-to-do  workmen  I  visited  in  England.  He  lives  like  a 
working  man,  and  not  in  the  style  of  the  middle  class ;  con- 
sequently, he  is  a  good  type  to  study  from  this  point  of 
view. 

It  had  been  arranged  that  I  should  spend  an  evening  at 
his  house,  and  so  about  eight  o'clock  I  rang  at  his  door.  It 
was  opened  by  Mrs.  Brown,  who  invited  me  to  walk  into  the 
parlour  to  await  the  return  of  her  husband,  who  had  been 
obliged  to  go  out.  She  herself  was  preparing  to  go  out,  and 
asked  me  to  excuse  her.  She  had  her  bonnet  on — a  black 
bonnet  trimmed  with  flowers.  Her  dress  was  carefully  chosen, 
and  not  very  different  from  that  of  a  Frenchwoman  of  the 
same  class.  It  consisted  of  a  dark  blue  woollen  skirt,  with  a 
bodice  of  blue  and  white  spotted  foulard,  kept  to  her  figure  by 
a  yellow  leather  belt.  To  go  out,  she  put  over  her  shoulders 
a  black  cape  trimmed  with  jet.  Her  general  appearance  gave 
an  impression  of  neatness,  care,  and  kindliness,  and  moreover 
she  was  attractive. 

While  I  was  alone  in  the  parlour  I  had  time  to  look  at  it 
well.  The  room  was  nearly  square,  about  12  feet  each  way, 
and  well  lighted  by  a  window  looking  on  to  the  street.  The 
floor  was  covered  with  carpet,  and  from  the  middle  of  the 


1 6  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

ceiling  hung  a  chandelier  with  three  burners.  The  wall 
opposite  the  door  was  occupied  by  a  white  marble  mantelpiece 
with  a  cast-iron  grate ;  over  the  fire  was  an  overmantel  of 
wood.  A  suite  upholstered  in  horse -hair  looked  like  good 
solid  family  furniture,  and  consisted  of  six  chairs,  a  sofa,  and  a 
low  chair.  There  were  two  tables,  covered  with  cloths.  One 
stood  in  front  of  the  window,  and  held  a  china  flower-pot  in 
which  a  fern  was  dying,  the  other  was  covered  with  books  and 
albums.  A  mahogany  chiffonier  with  glass  panels  and  shelves 
completed  the  furniture.  Photographs  were  scattered  about 
on  the  mantelpiece  and  tables,  and  there  were  two  or  three 
indifferent  pictures  on  the  walls. 

While  waiting  for  their  father's  arrival  I  talked  to  the 
two  little  boys,  who  came  and  examined  me  with  curiosity. 
The  younger,  a  little  man  of  eight,  showed  me  a  handsome  book 
containing  pictures  of  different  kinds  of  animals,  which  seemed 
to  jafford  him  the  greatest  interest.  He  told  me  about  the 
habits  of  the  rhinoceros,  and  we  turned  over  the  book  together, 
exchanging  ideas  about  the  lion,  the  jaguar,  the  eagle,  the 
chamois,  and  becoming  the  best  friends  in  the  world.  His 
brother,  two  years  his  senior,  cultivates  accomplishments  in  his 
odd  moments.  He  brought  me  a  violin  from  which  he  ex- 
tracted some  sounds  bearing  a  distant  resemblance  to  the  scale 
of  C,  and  explained  that  as  yet  he  had  only  had  one  lesson. 
That  was  obvious,  but  I  exhorted  him  to  perseverance.  It 
was  needless,  for,  young  as  they  are,  these  boys  are  English, 
and  bring  a  profound  seriousness  to  all  they  do.  Even  at  this 
tender  age  they  are  in  earnest,  and  if  it  made  me  smile  as  I 
talked  jaguar  with  one  and  the  violin  with  the  other,  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  there  nevertheless  is  the  germ  of  a  quality 
which  will  make  men  of  them  later.  It  is  not  far  from  the 
child  of  ten  to  the  young  man  of  nineteen,  and  Joe,  who  is 
nineteen,  is  a  man. 

While  we  were  chatting  thus  Joseph  Brown  arrived,  but 
no  longer  the  workman  of  the  morning,  with  his  leather  apron 
and  his  braces  hanging  down  behind.  He  took  off  a  light 
overcoat — the  summer  overcoat  worn  by  all  Englishmen  and  all 
who  borrow  their  fashions — and  appeared  in  a  well-cut  gray 
suit.  His  hands  and  face  were  perfectly  clean — a  commend- 
able state  of  things  in  a  blacksmith — he  wore  a  pair  of  good 


CHAP,  i  IN  SMALL   WORKSHOPS  17 

and  well-blacked  boots,  a  gold  watch-chain  adorned  his  waist- 
coat, and  he  was  smoking  a  big  cigar.  Fortunately,  he  retained 
under  this  conventional  attire,  as  under  his  working  clothes,  the 
courteous  and  cordial  manner  which  had  led  me  to  augur  well 
of  my  quest  in  the  morning.  I  accepted  a  cigar,  Brown  prepared 
two  glasses  of  whisky  and  soda,  and  the  conversation  began. 

I  first  complimented  my  host  on  his  place,  over  which  he 
offered  to  show  me,  from  the  sitting-room  behind  the  parlour  to 
the  wash-house  and  kitchen.  We  also  went  upstairs  to  the 
rooms  on  the  floor  above.  They  were  a  little  narrow,  but  well- 
furnished  and  clean.  The  bedroom  occupied  by  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Brown  contained  a  large  wooden  bed,  a  marble  washstand,  a 
chest  of  drawers,  the  top  of  which  Mrs.  Brown  had  fitted  up  as 
a  dressing-table,  and  a  cupboard.  Two  daughters  slept  in  a 
room  containing  two  beds.  It  was  carefully  kept,  and  the 
walls  were  adorned  with  a  profusion  of  pictures  and  nick- 
nacks.  Two  rooms  had  fireplaces.  I  explained  to  Brown  that 
it  was  necessary  for  my  purpose  to  know  the  value  of  the 
different  articles  of  furniture,  and  he  very  kindly  took  no 
offence  at  my  impertinent  questions. 

"  As  to  furniture,"  he  said,  "  you  can  get  goods  now  at  all 
prices.  You  will  have  no  difficulty  in  Birmingham  in  finding 
a  parlour  suite  consisting  of  six  chairs,  two  arm-chairs,  and  a 
sofa,  at  6  guineas.  Of  course  it  is  poor  stuff,  but  it  is  showy. 
It  is  furniture  made  of  unseasoned  wood  by  cabinetmakers  in 
Whitechapel,  and  upholstered  in  Birmingham.  Many  young 
couples  buy  one  when  they  set  up  housekeeping,  and  at  the 
end  of  five  years  not  a  single  chair  is  sound.  Now,  compare 
our  old  chairs  in  the  parlour  which  have  seen  twenty-seven  years' 
service.  They  cost  22  guineas  when  new,  but  our  children 
rolled  on  them  and  climbed  on  them  to  play  at  '  family  coach,' 
and  they  are  still  in  good  condition.  In  the  sitting-room, 
where  we  have  meals  and  where  we  spend  most  of  our  time, 
the  furniture  is  a  little  rougher,  but  very  solid  too ;  each  chair 
cost  £1  :  5s.  and  the  sofa  7  guineas." 

"  As  a  rule,  my  wife  and  I  have  always  thought  it  was 
worth  while  to  pay  more  and  get  a  good  article.  The  chiffonier 
opposite  the  window  in  the  parlour  cost  1 5  guineas,  but  see  how 
well  it  opens.  The  overmantel  cost  7  guineas;  it  is  a  luxury,  of 
course,  but  it  is  a  constant  pleasure  to  have  one's  home  nice. 

c  ' 


1 8  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

The  marble  chimney-piece  cost  6  guineas;  when  I  built  the  house 
the  contractor  had  not  allowed  in  his  estimate  for  such  an  ex- 
pensive one,  but  we  made  ourselves  a  present  of  it,  as  an  extra, 
to  beautify  our  parlour.  By  the  way,  I  do  not  recommend 
the  grate  which  is  put  in ;  it  is  an  old  pattern,  but  the  low 
price — £2 — is  compensated  for  by  a  great  waste  of  coal.  I 
keep  it  because  we  do  not  always  have  a  fire  there,  but  in  the 
sitting-room  I  have  for  the  same  total  cost  a  marble  mantel- 
piece at  4  guineas,  and  a  grate  at  the  same  price,  and  I  do  not 
burn  more  than  2s.  worth  of  coal  a  week  with  a  fire  going  all 
day  in  winter," — and  Brown,  who  is  very  well  up  about  every- 
thing made  in  Birmingham,  discussed  at  some  length  the  merits 
of  his  different  grates.  In  his  bedroom  the  fireplace  was 
entirely  of  cast-iron,  and  worth  about  £2  : 1  Os.  There  was 
another,  quite  small  and  unpretentious,  in  his  daughters'  room, 
which  cost  only  8s.  There  are  even  some  to  be  had,  it  would 
seem,  at  6s.  All  this  information  was  useful  to  enable  me  to 
determine  with  precision  the  exact  material  position  of  Joseph 
Brown  ;  and  of  interest  too,  because  it  gives  a  general  idea  of  the 
cost  of  setting  up  housekeeping  in  the  working  class.  English 
industry  has  devoted  much  attention  to  the  manufacture  of 
cheap  articles  of  every  kind  which  are  sold  at  a  price  within  the 
reach  of  a  very  large  class  of  customers.  Sometimes  the 
result  has  been  that  quality  is  sacrificed,  as  in  the  case  of 
furniture;  sometimes  an  article  has  been  invented  combining 
good  value  with  a  low  price,  as  in  the  case  of  the  little  fire- 
grates. It  is  no  small  matter  for  a  working-class  family  to  be 
able  to  afford,  at  a  trifling  cost,  the  comfort  of  a  well-warmed 
room,  which,  in  case  of  illness,  will  afford  favourable  conditions 
of  temperature  and  health  in  this  damp  and  bitter  climate. 
These  are  trifles,  but  they  put  very  appreciable  advantages 
within  the  reach  of  all 

The  visit  to  Mrs.  Brown's  kitchener  was  interesting  from  this 
point  of  view.  It  is  a  marvel  of  ingenuity,  capable  of  cooking 
the  family  meal,  of  heating  irons,  of  drying  linen,  of  providing 
a  constant  supply  of  hot  water,  and  all  in  a  very  small  space 
and  with  a  trifling  expenditure  of  fuel.  It  was  rather  dear, 
£8  for  the  kitchener  and  £1  for  fixing,  but  the  saving  of  coal 
largely  compensates  for  the  outlay.  It  burns  only  about  2s. 
worth  of  coal  a  week. 


CHAP,  i  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  19 

I  asked  Brown  what  sum  would  enable  a  young  working- 
class  couple  in  fair  circumstances  to  furnish. 

"  As  a  rule,"  he  replied,  "  to  furnish  two  rooms  downstairs 
and  two  bedrooms,  about  £30,  if  they  buy  cheap.  Of  course 
I  do  not  include  house-linen,  which  is  extra.  If  they  want  a 
good  quality  this  sum  must  be  multiplied  by  three  or  four. 
Nowadays  many  capital  articles  can  be  bought  at  a  lower  price 
than  formerly.  Iron  beds,  for  instance,  are  better  than  the  old- 
fashioned  wooden  beds.  They  are  more  lasting,  easier  to  keep 
clean,  and  good  ones  can  be  bought  from  6s.  to  £20." 

There  is,  of  course,  a  great  difference  between  the  bare 
necessities  of  a  young  couple  and  the  way  in  which  a  house 
like  Brown's  is  furnished.  It  is  true  that  it  is  intended  for  a 
large  family,  that  it  is  of  good  quality,  and  that  it  includes  a 
certain  number  of  fancy  articles,  among  which  may  be  men- 
tioned a  very  indifferent  piano  in  the  sitting-room,  on  which 
the  eldest  daughter  plays  waltzes  ;  but  from  the  prices  he  men- 
tioned, I  estimate  that  he  must  have  spent  about  £200  to  buy 
the  furniture  new.  Of  course  it  was  not  all  bought  at  once, 
but  since  he  set  up  housekeeping — that  is  to  say,  in  the  course 
of  twenty-seven  years — he  has  found  means  to  buy  ground  for 
building  at  £240,  to  spend  £1000  on  building,  and  £200  on 
furniture,  to  make  a  business  worth  £600,  and  at  the. same 
time  to  bring  up  a  family  of  eight  children.  Moreover,  he 
admits  with  a  smile  that  he  has  invested  "  a  little  bit  of  money 
here  and  there."  He  has  also  insured  his  life  at  a  fixed  term 
of  twenty  years,  and  has  already  paid  fifteen  annual  instalments. 
This  is  the  capital  he  has  acquired  by  the  product  of  his  labour 
and  the  profits  of  his  business. 

To-day  the  value  of  his  furniture  has  depreciated  through 
wear,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  his  buildings  have  risen  consider- 
ably in  value,  owing  to  the  growth  of  Nechells.  I  have  already 
said  that  he  values  his  premises  at  £1400,  and  his  business  at 
£600.  Valuing  his  furniture  at  £80,  we  get  a  total  of  £2080, 
to  which  must  be  added  the  sum  of  his  investments,  and  the 
capital  assured  by  the  fifteen  annual  premiums,  as  to  which 
two  items  I  have  no  exact  information. 

We  must  now  obtain  a  general  idea  of  his  annual  expenses, 
in  order  to  estimate  the  resources  furnished  by  his  own  labour 
and  his  business.  At  the  same  time,  we  shall  find  ourselves 


20  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

initiated  into  his  everyday  life :  we  shall  see  how  he  and  his 
family  live,  dress,  their  recreations,  and  how  they  are  cared 
for  in  illness.  We  shall  have  the  material  aspect  of  his  life ; 
its  setting  we  have  already  described. 

Of  his  eight  children  five  only  live  with  him.  Two  sons 
have  settled  in  New  Zealand ;  another,  who  is  engaged  in  the 
wholesale  fruit-trade  in  Birmingham,  does  not  take  his  meals 
at  home.  There  remain,  therefore,  Joe,  two  sisters — one  seven- 
teen years  of  age  and  the  other  fourteen — and  the  two  little 
brothers. 

Joe,  who  is  old  enough  to  keep  himself,  and  who,  moreover, 
receives  a  salary  of  30s.  a  week  from  his  father,  pays  his 
mother  1  Os.  a  week  as  his  share  of  the  housekeeping  expenses. 
This  covers  his  board,  washing,  lighting,  and  the  storage  of  his 
belongings.  It  is  important  to  remember  the  figure,  because 
it  gives  us  a  base  of  estimate  for  the  budget  of  the  family 
expenditure. 

In  the  Brown  household,  as  in  all  English  working-class 
households,  there  are  several  meals.  In  the  morning,  before 
seven  o'clock,  there  is  breakfast,  consisting  of  coffee,  bread  and 
butter,  and  meat,  generally  bacon ;  about  twelve  there  is 
dinner,  consisting  of  some  kind  of  meat,  beef,  or  mutton,  with 
the  unvarying  boiled  potatoes ;  at  four  o'clock  tea — one  or 
two  cups  of  tea,  with  bread  and  butter ;  and  in  the  evening, 
about  eight  or  nine  o'clock,  there  is  supper,  which  is  not  so 
solid  a  meal  as  dinner,  but  which  brings  meat  on  the  table  for 
the  third  time. 

Of  course  all  Birmingham  workmen  do  not  live  as  well  as 
this.  Many  of  them  do  not  eat  meat  every  day,  or  eat  it  only 
once  a  day,  but  in  that  case  they  think  themselves  on  short 
commons.  Their  standard  of  diet  tends  towards  what  I  have 
just  described ;  they  adopt  it  as  soon  as  their  means  permit, 
not  as  a  luxury,  or  as  a  matter  of  taste,  but  as  a  normal, 
reasonable,  and  understood  thing.  From  this  point  of  view 
they  differ  sensibly  from  the  French  workman.  With  him, 
too,  no  doubt,  an  improvement  in  his  means  expresses  itself 
most  frequently  by  an  improvement  in  his  living,  but  when  he 
is  steady  he  would  not  consider  it  justifiable  to  spend  so  much 
upon  meat. 

It  is  true  that  meat  is  not  dear  in  Birmingham.     The  free 


CHAP,  i  IN  SMALL   WORKSHOPS  21 

importation  into  England  of  meat  from  all  parts  gives  full  play 
to  competition  and  makes  prices  low.  Thus  Australian  meat, 
transported  by  sea  in  freezing  chambers,  is  retailed  in  the 
Birmingham  market  at  4^d.  a  pound.  Mrs.  Brown  does  not 
like  this  frozen  meat :  she  maintains  that  it  has  less  flavour, 
and  she  never  buys  it.  She  prefers  real  English  fresh  meat, 
although  she  pays  almost  double  the  price — 9d.  a  pound  for 
mutton  for  the  best  cuts,  and  8^d.  for  beef  for  the  best  cuts, 
and  only  6d.  for  beef  for  boiling.  So,  while  allowing  them- 
selves the  luxury  of  fresh  meat,  they  manage  to  have  something 
to  put  in  the  pot  without  great  expense. 

Further,  the  money  is  not  thrown  away.  Not  only  does 
the  workman  who  is  well  fed  work  better  and  enjoy  better 
health,  but  he  is  less  ready  to  desert  his  home  for  a  public- 
house.  Mrs.  Brown  asserts  that  if  housewives  knew  how  to 
manage,  many  a  one  who  complains  of  her  husband  might 
keep  him  at  home  by  looking  after  him  well.  "It  takes  less 
time  to  go  to  a  public -house  and  spend  fivepence  or  sixpence 
on  ale  than  to  cook  a  piece  of  meat  of  the  same  value  at  home. 
But  what  a  difference  in  the  result !  With  this  piece  of  meat 
a  small  family  can  make  a  good,  comfortable  meal,  while  the 
ale  ruins  the  stomach,  and  only  makes  a  man  thirsty.  Beer 
is  the  ruin  of  people,"  she  says,  as  if  to  sum  up,  "  and  I  have 
often  seen  women  drink  the  money  which  would  have  kept 
their  families  a  whole  day  without  leaving  the  bar." 

Nevertheless,  Mrs.  Brown  is  not  a  teetotaller,  in  proof  of 
which  it  may  be  remarked  that,  as  we  listen,  her  husband  and 
I  are  enjoying  our  whisky  and  soda  without  incurring  her 
indignation  in  the  least.  At  meals,  however,  the  family  drink 
nothing  but  water,  except  at  breakfast  and  tea.  This  is  not 
an  exceptional  thing  in  England,  but  rather  the  rule ;  wine  is 
considered  a  luxury,  and  beer  a  bad  habit.  In  summer  Brown 
often  refreshes  himself  between  meals,  more  especially  when 
working  at  the  forge,  with  home-made  lemonade — a  drink  which 
would  seem  insipid  enough  to  a  French  workman.  Sometimes 
too,  but  very  exceptionally,  he  has  an  18 -gallon  cask  of  ale, 
for  which  he  pays  only  17s.,  obtaining  it  direct  from  the 
brewer. 

The  considerable  saving  effected  by  these  habits  of 
sobriety  permits  of  the  greater  expenditure  in  meat.  We  have 


22  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

already  spoken  of  the  low  price  of  butcher's  meat,  and  bacon, 
which  is  much  eaten,  is  also  very  cheap.  In  Birmingham 
American  bacon  may  be  bought  from  3d.  to  5d.  a  pound, 
according  to  quality,  and  it  is  this  American  bacon  which 
is  chiefly  used  for  breakfast  in  Birmingham. 

"  At  one  time,"  said  Brown,  referring  to  this  subject,  "  pigs 
were  largely  kept  in  Birmingham,  but  you  would  not  find  one 
to-day  where  you  would  have  found  a  thousand  a  few  years 
ago.  In  the  first  place,  since  the  town  has  grown  and  spread 
into  the  suburbs,  there  are  police  regulations  forbidding  pigs 
to  be  kept  except  under  certain  sanitary  conditions  which  the 
greater  number  of  poor  folk  cannot  fulfil,  especially  as  owing 
to  the  increasing  value  of  land  the  houses  are  more  closely 
crowded.  In  the  next  place,  families  who  have  room  enough 
to  devote  themselves  to  this  occupation  generally  find  a  more 
remunerative  way  of  employing  their  time  in  some  other 
occupation.  You  saw  in  the  court  beside  the  stable  a  wooden 
pen.  My  second  son,  now  in  New  Zealand,  used  to  keep  a 
sow  there,  and  by  selling  the  young  ones  he  made  a  little 
money.  I  myself  have  fattened  pigs,  and  have  sometimes 
made  as  much  as  £20  a  year,  but  it  is  too  much  trouble  and 
not  worth  it." 

In  a  large  commercial  and  manufacturing  town,  which 
offers  at  the  same  time  a  large  variety  of  well-paid  employ- 
ment and  a  well-provided  provision  market,  the  working-man 
finds  himself  obliged  to  lay  aside  the  small  accessory  sources 
of  profit  to  which  he  would  have  recourse  in  the  isolation  of  a 
small  town.  His  time  becomes  too  precious  to  be  squandered 
in  rearing  pigs :  he  can  do  better,  and,  moreover,  American 
bacon  can  be  bought  ready  at  a  low  price  at  the  nearest 
grocer's.  So  he  willingly  gives  up  the  task  of  raising  his  own 
provisions,  not  because  he  thinks  it  beneath  him — the  young 
Browns  would  go  and  raise  pigs  at  the  Antipodes  if  it  would 
pay — but  because  he  has  a  rational  idea  of  employing  his  time 
to  better  purpose. 

This  well  illustrates  what  may  be  gained  from  the  growth 
of  a  town  by  an  intelligent  working  man,  who,  without  belong- 
ing to  the  picked  few,  is  capable  of  turning  to  account  the 
advantage  of  higher  wages  and  multiplied  forms  of  employment. 

Fish  and  vegetables,  like  meat,  are  cheap.     Cod  costs 


CHAP,  i  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  23 

a  lb.,  salmon  10d.,  and  a  sole  of  medium  size  3d.  As  a  rule 
the  Birmingham  market  is  well  supplied  with  fish. 

Vegetables  are  abundant,  but  cabbage  and  potatoes  are  the 
only  ones  which  habitually  form  part  of  the  family  diet. 
Cabbages  were  dear  in  1893,  owing  to  the  drought,  and  cost 
as  much  as  3d.  each,  but  as  a  rule  they  cost  Id.,  and  two 
are  enough  for  a  meal.  New  potatoes,  which  are  eaten  with 
the  meat,  boiled  like  cabbage,  were  selling  that  day  (8th  June 
1893)  at  2d.  alb. 

Charles,  the  son  engaged  in  the  wholesale  fruit-trade,  gave 
me  some  interesting  information  about  the  imports  of  his  firm. 
"We  have  just  received,"  he  said,  "3000  baskets  of  cherries 
from  France.  About  60,000,000  French  eggs  are  imported 
every  week.  We  also  get  a  great  many  vegetables  from 
France,  and  especially  from  Brittany.  Saint  Malo  supplies 
cauliflowers."  England  offers  such  a  market  for  all  these 
products  that  ultimately  they  become  so  abundant  that  their 
price  is  not  increased.1  One  detail  I  might  mention.  England 
is  one  of  the  countries  where  the  greatest  number  of  oranges 
and  bananas  are  eaten.  Every  climate  and  country  sends  its 
products  into  the  docks  of  London  and  Liverpool.  Fresh 
apples  can  be  had  in  May ;  they  come  from  Australia,  and  the 
voyage  takes  six  weeks. 

Milk,  which  is  largely  used,  does  not  stand  a  long  journey 
unless  it  is  sent  in  a  concentrated  form.  However,  the  English 
pastures  are  fairly  good,  and  the  cultivation  of  fodder  has 
developed  sufficiently  for  the  establishment  of  a  number  of 
dairy  farms,  which  despatch  innumerable  milk  trains  daily  to 
all  the  large  towns.  The  police  regulations  as  to  adulteration 
are  extremely  strict,  and  the  low  price  is  due  entirely  to 
competition.  The  best  milk  costs  3d.  a  quart. 

Tea  and  sugar  are  also  not  so  dear  as  in  France.  The 
duty  on  the  first  is  moderate,  and  on  the  second  there  is  none. 
Loaf  sugar  costs  2^d.  a  lb.,  and  lump  sugar  3d.  Tea  may  be 
had  at  all  prices.  It  is  one  of  the  articles  over  which  the 
English  passion  for  advertisement  has  risen  almost  to  fury.  "  TRY 

OUR  TEA,  IT  IS  THE  COMFORT  OF  THE  HOME,  THE  JOY  OF  THE 

1  Much  the  same  thing  occurs  in  Paris,  where  the  great  central  markets 
(Les  Halles)  enable  housekeepers  to  buy  every  kind  of  poultry,  fish,  vegetables, 
and  fruit  at  a  moderate  price. 


24  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

FAMILY,  THE  FATHER'S  REST,  THE  MOTHER'S  HEALTH."     Frequently 

this  regenerating,  exhilarating  tonic  is  nothing  but  a  worthless 
colouring  powder,  but  one  can  enjoy  many  cups  of  it  without 
being  ruined,  for  it  may  be  had  at  Is.  a  Ib.  Mrs.  Brown  does 
not  buy  this  tea,  which  she  declares  to  be  execrable ;  she  pays  2s. 
a  Ib.  for  hers,  and  I  can  say  from  experience  that  it  is  excellent. 

Still,  tea  at  this  price  is  a  cheap  drink,  even  after  buy- 
ing sugar  at  3d.  a  Ib.  But  the  English,  not  content  with 
buying  tea  in  China,  have  become  tea-planters,  and  in  Ceylon, 
for  instance,  great  quantities  are  produced.  Hence  the  decrease 
in  price.  Brown  told  me  that  when  he  was  a  boy  his  father 
sent  him  to  the  grocer's  to  buy  tea,  and  he  got  a  pound  of  green 
tea  at  5s.  a  Ib.,  and  a  pound  of  black  at  4s.  This  mixture, 
then  in  favour,  cost  4s.  6d.  a  Ib.,  or  more  than  twice  as  much 
as  what  I  found  excellent  at  his  table. 

English  cookery,  as  every  one  knows,  is  extremely  simple. 
Boiled,  roast,  or  grilled  meat,  fried  fish,  vegetables  boiled  in 
water — none  of  the  elaborate  made  dishes  and  varied  combina- 
tions which  French  housewives  willingly  undertake.  The 
pudding  is  the  only  effort  of  English  imagination  in  this 
direction.  It  is  prodigious  as  a  combination  of  elements  of  all 
sorts,  but  in  families  of  the  working-class  it  is  reserved  for 
high  days,  Sunday  for  example.  Consequently  it  is  not  a 
great  addition  to  the  ordinary  cares  of  the  household.  Formerly, 
however,  these  were  rendered  very  heavy  by  the  custom  of 
baking  for  the  family  daily.  Until  a  dozen  years  ago  Mrs. 
Brown  still  discharged  this  daily  and  time-honoured  duty. 
She  has  now  given  it  up,  finding  it  far  more  convenient  to  let 
the  baker  bring  a  4-lb.  loaf,  costing  5^d.,  than  to  make  and 
bake  her  own  bread  every  day  as  she  used  to  do.  This  4-lb. 
loaf  represents  the  consumption  of  seven  persons  for  a  day, 
making  a  little  over  half  a  pound  a  head.  A  French  family 
would  need  more  than  twice  as  much,  but  in  England  bread  is 
little  more  than  an  excuse  for  eating  butter. 

I  do  not  pretend  to  estimate  minutely  the  quantity  of 
meat,  fish,  vegetables,  etc.,  consumed  by  the  family  annually ; 
but  judging  from  the  information  I  received,  and  the  amount 
paid  by  Joe  for  board,  I  do  not  think  I  should  be  far  from  the 
truth  in  allowing  £120  a  year  for  food. 

As  to  clothes,  Brown  and  his  wife  agreed  in  saying  that 


CHAP,  i  IN  SMALL   WORKSHOPS  25 

they  can  probably  be  bought  more  cheaply  in  Birmingham 
than  in  any  other  town  in  England.  The  custom  of  a  town 
of  500,000  inhabitants  is  considerable  enough  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  very  large  shops,  and  the  proximity  of  the  textile 
factories  of  Lancashire  enables  them  to  be  supplied  on  favour- 
able terms.  It  is  well  known  that  in  France  at  the  present 
time  many  tailors  send  orders  received  in  Paris  or  in  the 
provinces  to  be  executed  in  England,  and  find  it  to  their 
advantage  to  do  so,  even  while  they  offer  their  customers  the 
imported  article  at  a  lower  price.  In  Birmingham  men's 
clothes  cost  about  half  as  much  as  in  Paris,  and  if  the  differ- 
ence is  not  so  great  on  boots  and  shoes,  it  is  still  greatly  in 
favour  of  England.  The  eldest  daughter,  who  is  a  teacher  in 
a  school  in  town,  showed  me  a  pair  of  stout  boots  she  had  had 
made  by  a  cobbler,  which  had  cost  only  7s.  Mrs.  Brown 
estimates  that  a  young  woman  engaged  as  a  teacher  or  in 
business  can  dress  very  suitably  for  £10  a  year.  She  would 
consider  this  a  maximum.  Certainly  the  total  expenditure  on 
clothes  of  Brown,  his  wife,  his  two  youngest  sons,  and  his  two 
daughters  should  not  exceed  £50  a  year.  It  should  be  said, 
however,  that  Mrs.  Brown  has  a  sewing-machine,  with  which 
she  makes  a  good  deal  of  underlinen,  and  that  I  never  saw  her 
without  a  piece  of  work  in  her  hand.  In  this  she  is  somewhat 
of  an  exception,  for  Englishwomen  seem,  as  a  rule,  to  despise 
needlework.  This  is  greatly  due  to  the  cheapness  of  the 
articles  shown  in  the  large  shops ;  and  an  equally  important 
factor  is  that  young  girls  work  in  factories  until  they  marry. 
After  her  working  day  in  the  factory,  and  with  her  day's  wages 
earned,  the  working  girl  prefers  to  rest.  However,  there  are 
other  reasons  too,  for  Scotswomen,  under  the  same  circum- 
stances, have  retained  in  a  greater  degree  the  custom  of  the 
small  domestic  occupations,  and  more  especially  of  knitting. 
One  cannot  imagine  a  Scotswoman  without  her  woollen  stocking 
in  her  hand,  while  among  Englishwomen  it  is  extremely  rare. 
The  former,  generally  more  isolated  than  the  latter,  thrown  less 
completely  into  the  modern  movement,  in  a  sense  more  patri- 
archal, remains  more  attached  to  these  time-honoured  accessory 
occupations.  Knitting  is  certainly  to  be  regarded  in  this  light 
in  a  country  where  the  whole  textile  manufacture  is  so  enor- 
mously developed. 


26  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

The  washing  is  done  at  home  in  this  family  as  in  many 
English  families.  An  old  woman  of  sixty-three  comes  once  a 
week  to  wash,  and  is  paid  Is.  6d.  a  day  and  her  food.  She 
does  a  day's  washing,  ironing,  or  cleaning  for  the  same  price 
In  a  word,  she  is  Mrs.  Brown's  lieutenant  in  her  household 
duties.  She  comes  about  ten  times  a  month,  and,  estimating 
her  keep  at  Is.  a  day,  this  is  an  annual  expenditure  of  £15. 

When  her  children  were  young,  Mrs.  Brown  employed  a 
woman  continually,  but  she  did  without  her  as  soon  as  she 
could,  and  was  anxious  to  do  so.  "  Servants  are  such  a  plague 
here,"  she  said.  "  They  want  three  free  evenings  a  week,  and 
half  a  day  on  Sunday.  They  often  insist  on  an  hour  for 
practising  on  the  piano,  and  they  consider  themselves  entitled 
to  ten  days'  holiday  a  year."  That  is  the  masters'  side,  but  of 
course  there  is  the  servants'.  Brown's  sister,  my  friend's 
nurse,  never  fails  to  take  her  yearly  holiday,  and  that  year, 
it  would  appear,  she  was  going  to  spend  it  at  the  seaside  with 
a  friend.  In  this  way  she  would  spend  perhaps  half  her 
wages  (£18  a  year),  but  that  is  not  thought  so  unreasonable 
in  England  as  in  France.  The  idea  of  saving  is  very  rare. 
Her  mistress  told  me  that  when  this  girl  entered  her  service 
she  stipulated  that  she  should  not  be  required  to  wait  at  table 
or  to  wear  a  cap.  These  conditions  proposed,  accepted,  and 
observed,  she  is  an  excellent  servant,  and  devoted  to  her 
employers,  with  whom  she  has  remained  ten  years.  It  is 
extremely  probable  that  servants  expect  so  much  in  England 
chiefly  owing  to  the  facility  with  which  young  girls  find  in 
factories  employment  which  leaves  them  their  own  mistresses 
after  working  hours.  They  are  so  attracted  by  this  freedom 
that  almost  all  rush  into  factories  as  soon  as  they  have  passed 
their  standards  and  fulfilled  the  conditions  required  by  the  laws 
which  safeguard  the  employment  of  children.  Those  who  go 
into  service  wish  to  assure  themselves  at  least  a  minimum  of 
freedom,  and  speaking  generally  it  cannot  be  said  that  they 
abuse  it.  They  make  their  lot  less  narrow,  nothing  more. 

Including  the  details  given  above  with  regard  to  heating, 
it  is  easy  to  reckon  the  amount  expended  on  coal — 2s.  a 
week  for  the  kitchen  all  the  year  round,  2s.  for  the  sitting- 
room  during  eight  months,  an  occasional  fire  in  a  bedroom  or 
the  'parlour,  a  fire  every  week  for  washing — say  4s.  a  week  for 


CHAP,  i  IN  SMALL   WORKSHOPS  27 

fifty-two  weeks,  or  about  £10  : 10s.  a  year.  It  should  be  said 
that  Joseph  Brown  buys  the  same  coal  for  his  workshop  and 
for  his  house,  and  so  gets  the  advantage  of  the  wholesale  price. 

Lighting  is  done  almost  entirely  by  gas,  which  is  supplied  at 
2s.  7d.  or  2s.  9d.  (according  to  the  quantity  consumed)  by  the 
town,  which  has  municipalised  its  lighting.  In  Paris  the 
Gas  Company  hands  over  half  its  profit  to  the  town,  and  is  con- 
sequently obliged  to  increase  the  price  of  gas  by  that  amount. 
At  Birmingham  the  municipality  has  recently  decided  to  make 
and  distribute  the  gas  itself,  not  in  order  to  wring  further 
revenues  from  the  ratepayers,  but,  on  the  contrary,  to  admit 
them  to  a  share  in  the  saving  effected  in  the  shape  of  a 
reduction  in  price.  The  Brown  family  spend  about  £3  : 10s. 
in  gas  for  the  family  consumption. 

Drinking  water  is  also  widely  distributed  by  the  town 
to  its  inhabitants.  Brown  contributes  £2  a  year,  and  can  use 
as  much  as  he  pleases.  At  the  present  moment  (1893)  the 
municipality  has  undertaken  the  task  of  bringing  water  from 
the  Welsh  mountains  to  Birmingham,  a  distance  of  200  miles. 

A  moderately  heavy  item  in  the  family  budget  is  that  of 
amusements.  As  an  Englishman,  Brown  believes  that  in  order 
to  work  well  one  must  know  how  to  rest  and  amuse  oneself 
from  time  to  time,  and  that  this  is,  in  a  sense,  a  duty  to  one- 
self. "  Although  I  have  been  through  some  hard  times,"  he 
says,  "  I  have  always  lived  comfortably  and  allowed  myself  a 
little  pleasure,  as  a  Christian  should  do."  This  expression,  in 
his  mouth,  seems  to  mean  not  only  that  his  pleasures  are 
lawful,  but  also  that  he  rests  from  a  profound  conviction  of 
his  dignity  as  a  man  and  a  Christian — that  he  does  not  work 
himself  to  death  like  an  animal,  but  allows  all  his  faculties 
full  play,  and  so  keeps  himself  in  good  form.  The  idea  is 
thoroughly  English.  Every  year  he  and  his  wife  take  some 
weeks'  holiday,  at  the  seaside  or  in  Ireland ;  once  they  even 
crossed  the  Channel  and  spent  a  fortnight  at  Boulogne-sur- 
Mer,  where  Brown  was  delighted  with  the  French  cookery  at 
the  hotel.  We  have  already  seen  that  he  likes  to  drive  in 
the  outskirts  of  Birmingham.  His  little  trap  cost  him  £24, 
and  he  calculates  that  the  pony's  keep  amounts  to  12s.  a 
week,  or  rather  more  than  £30  a  year.  As  the  chief  use  of 
the  pony  is  to  serve  the  customers,  this  item  should  not  figure 


28  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

in  the  list  of  personal  expenses,  but  as  part  of  the  working 
expenses.  The  holiday  expenses  must,  however,  be  included 
in  the  family  budget.  They  amount  to  about  £20  a  year. 

The  expenses  incurred  for  medical  attendance  have  been 
heavy,  as  his  wife's  health  has  recently  necessitated  the  best 
of  treatment.  He  has  sometimes  after  operations  paid  bills 
amounting  to  £50.  From  what  he  told  me,  his  average 
annual  expenditure  under  this  head  for  the  last  ten  years 
might  be  fixed  at  £15  a  year. 

His  religious  convictions  also  make  no  light  claim  on  him. 
He  is  a  Koman  Catholic,  and  as  this  church  wins  adherents 
chiefly  among  the  indigent  Irish,  it  has  no  need  in  England  to 
dread  the  corruption  due  to  wealth.  Consequently  those  of 
its  members  who  are  better  off  must  make  some  sacrifices  for 
its  support.  Brown  is  churchwarden  of  his  parish,  and  pays 
£3  a  year  for  three  sittings  for  himself  and  his  family,  that  is, 
£1  each.  Further,  he  gives  30s.  a  year  towards  wiping  out 
the  church's  debt.  The  church  (St.  Joseph's)  owes  £1800,  on 
which  4  per  cent  interest  is  paid.  In  order  to  increase  the 
income  a  bazaar  is  organised  every  year,  in  connection  with 
which  he  takes  an  active  part,  and  to  which  he  usually  con- 
tributes a  box  of  tools,  without  mentioning  the  money  he 
spends  there.  Finally,  he  gives  to  the  offertory ;  so  that  the 
annual  expense  in  connection  with  their  religion  must  amount 
to  about  £8  a  year  for  the  family. 

As  may  be  seen,  Brown  is  a  zealous  Catholic.  I  ought  to 
say  that  this  circumstance  made  me  hesitate  at  first  to  make 
a  careful  study  of  him.  I  saw  the  disadvantage  of  selecting 
as  a  type  of  an  English  working-class  family  one  professing  a 
different  religion  from  that  of  the  majority.  If  I  did  not 
yield  to  this  consideration,  it  was  because  Brown,  good  Catholic 
though  he  is,  does  not  in  the  least  represent  the  ordinary  type 
of  English  Catholic  workman.  He  is  not  of  Irish  origin,  his 
parents  did  not  even  belong  to  any  of  those  little  groups  of 
Lancashire  Roman  Catholics  found,  for  instance,  about  Preston. 
His  father  and  mother  embraced  Catholicism,  but  came  of  a 
Saxon  and  Protestant  stock.  Further,  the  Ango-Saxon  strain 
is  so  strongly  marked  in  all  he  does,  and  so  completely  absent 
is  any  Celtic  trait,  that  my  scruples  were  overcome.  In  the 
course  of  this  study  we  shall  see  a  procession  of  Protestant 


CHAP,  i  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  29 

English  workmen  and  of  Irish  Catholics,  and  it  is  easy  to  see 
to  which  social  type  Brown  belongs. 

We  have  concluded  our  examination  of  the  expenditure  of 
Joseph  Brown  but  for  the  taxes,  which  form  a  compulsory 
addition.  First  of  all  there  is  the  income  tax.  For  a  long 
time  he  paid  nothing  under  this  head,  but  since  he  became  an 
employer,  and  his  position  as  such  was  recognised,  he  receives 
an  income-tax  paper  every  year.  He  never  fills  it  up,  and 
makes  no  declaration,  but  he  is  officially  assessed  as  having  an 
income  of  £200  a  year,  and  this  assessment  he  accepts.  Con- 
sequently his  proportion  of  the  income  tax  is  £2. 

He  also  pays  a  property  tax,  as  his  rent  exceeds  £20. 
His  rent  is  assessed  at  £65,  and  he  pays  6d.  in  the  £1,  amount- 
ing to  £1:12:6.  There  remain  the  local  rates,  which  are 
heavy,  and  amount  to  a  total  of  about  £4. 

Recapitulating  the  various  items  enumerated  in  this 
budget,  we  get  the  following  table  : — 

Food        .             .  .  .  £120     0     0 

Clothing.              .  .  .  48     0     0 

Service    .              .  .  .  15     0     0 

Heating  .              .  .  .  10   10     0    . 

Lighting .              .  .  .  3   10     0 

Water      .              .  .  .,  200 

Doctor  and  Chemist  .  .  1500 

Amusements         .  .  .  20     0     0 

Religious  purposes  .  .  800 

Taxes  7  10     0 


Total    .  .         £249   10     0 


It  must  be  noted  that,  as  the  owner  of  his  house,  Brown  has 
no  rent  to  pay.  If  we  add  that,  besides  meeting  his  annual 
expenses,  he  has  succeeded  in  acquiring  property  and  in 
making  some  advantageous  investments,  that  he  has  in  some 
degree  assisted  the  sons  who  emigrated  to  New  Zealand  in 
settling,  his  average  annual  income  cannot  be  less  than  from 
£360  to  £400. 

It  is  obvious  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  enter 
into  details  with  regard  to  his  business  profits.  These  are 
secrets  which  no  business  man  willingly  makes  public,  and 
rightly  so.  What  was  important  for  us  to  determine  with 
precision  was  in  the  first  place  the  style  of  living  of  the  family, 


30  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

and  the  net  proceeds  which  Joseph  Brown  acquired  by  his 
labour.  This  end  is  now  attained.  But  it  is  further  necessary 
to  have  a  complete  account  of  the  family,  and  through  it  of  the 
working-class  milieu  in  Birmingham.  As  yet,  we  know  only 
the  material  base  on  which  its  life  rests  ;  we  have  not  estimated 
its  energy  nor  spoken  of  its  educational  work.  So  far,  we 
have  done  little  more  than  fix  the  data  in  a  problem  which 
appears  insoluble,  so  contradictory  is  the  appearance  of  the 
two  terms  given.  On  the  one  hand,  Brown  is  engaged  in  a 
declining  industry,  and  on  the  other  he  enjoys  in  tranquillity  the 
fruits  of  his  labour,  rears  a  large  family,  lives  in  comfort,  and 
is  happy.  How  can  these  two  propositions  be  reconciled  ?  It 
is  true  that  we  have  already  a  hint  of  the  solution,  for  we 
know  that  Brown's  children  do  not  wish  to  carry  on  their 
father's  business,  that  they  find  other  outlets  for  their  activity, 
and  are  ready  to  go  as  far  as  the  Antipodes  in  search  of  them. 
But  how  is  this  accomplished  ?  How  is  it  that,  side  by  side 
with  so  many  who  declare  things  difficult,  with  so  many  work- 
men who  clamour  for  a  higher  intervention  to  protect  them, 
we  find  young  men  without  many  relations,  without  capital, 
with  only  an  ordinary  education,  who  nevertheless  succeed  in 
making  a  place  for  themselves  in  the  world  ?  How  has 
Brown  himself  attained  his  position  ?  This  is  what  we  require 
to  know  in  detail  in  order  to  understand  the  power  of  this 
type.  We  shall  understand  it  by  laying  our  finger  on  the 
little  traits  of  home  education,  by  listening  to  Brown  as  he 
describes  how  his  children  were  settled,  and  the  vicissitudes 
through  which  he  himself  has  passed.  Then  we  shall  know 
what  a  child  ought  to  get  in  his  education  in  order  to  develop 
into  an  enterprising  young  man  like  Joe,  and  later  into  the 
head  of  a  family  like  Brown — a  truly  independent  man. 

IV.   The  Past  and  Future  of  the  Brown  Family. 

The  contrast  I  have  just  indicated  between  the  impression 
of  happy  stability,  of  confidence  in  the  future,  and  of  prosperity 
presented  by  this  family,  and  the  instability  of  their  occupation, 
its  uncertainty  in  the  immediate  future,  and  the  pressing 
dangers  which  threaten  it,  is  rendered  still  more  marked  by 
the  history  of  their  life.  Brown  was  not  educated  from  child- 


CHAP,  i  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  31 

hood  to  the  particular  calling  he  follows ;  he  has  not  followed 
a  course  laid  down  beforehand ;  on  the  contrary,  he  has  had  to 
find  out  his  course  for  himself,  and  at  times  he  has  taken  a 
false  step.  The  trade  which  seems  on  the  eve  of  slipping 
from  him  has  not  been  in  his  case  a  time-honoured  refuge,  in 
whose  shelter  he  grew  to  manhood,  but  merely  an  opportunity 
of  which  he  availed  himself,  as  he  would  have  done  of  any 
other. 

And  while  the  contrast  thus  becomes  greater  and  more 
marked,  it  begins  to  suggest  the  explanation.  If  Brown  accepts 
the  present  state  of  his  occupation  without  bitter  recrimination, 
if  he  looks  the  future  in  the  face  without  dismay,  although  he 
foresees  the  decay  of  this  industry,  it  is  because  he  has  already 
extricated  himself  from  difficulties  of  the  same  kind,  applying 
his  activity  and  faculties  in  different  directions  according  to 
circumstances,  and  because  he  is  accustomed  to  rely  upon  him- 
self and  not  on  the  fortunes  of  his  trade,  on  his  personal  rather 
than  on  his  technical  aptitudes.  The  future  can  present  to 
him  only  such  obstacles  as  he  already  knows.  At  any  given 
moment  he  will  surmount  them. 

His  father  lived  at  Birmingham,  and  was  a  clever  mechanic 
with  a  large  family.  Joseph  was  still  quite  a  child  when  his 
mother  died,  leaving  ten  children,  the  youngest  of  whom — the 
sister  who  is  now  nurse — was  only  fifteen  months  old.  The 
father  soon  married  again,  and  had  five  children  by  his  second 
wife,  so  that  the  children  of  the  first  marriage  were  somewhat 
neglected.  It  was  desirable  that  they  should  leave  home  as 
soon  as  possible,  and  make  a  start  where  they  pleased.  Joseph 
was  apprenticed  at  the  age  of  eleven  in  a  smithy  connected 
with  the  railway  company.  He  had  received  very  little 
education,  his  attendance  at  school  had  been  very  irregular, 
and  he  would  have  remained  an  indifferent  scholar  all  his  life 
if  the  idea  had  not  occurred  to  him,  when  he  was  twelve  or 
thirteen,  that  he  would  never  do  anything  unless  he  possessed 
a  thorough  elementary  education.  Spurred  already  by  the 
legitimate  ambition  to  rise  in  the  world,  he  became  a  regular 
attender  at  evening  schools,  and  there  acquired  enough 
education  to  enable  him  to  conduct  his  correspondence,  keep 
his  books,  read  a  book  or  newspaper  with  profit ;  in  short, 
enough  to  prevent  the  lack  of  education  from  thwarting  him 


32  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

in  the  development  of  his  enterprises.  Henceforward,  he  was 
capable  of  modifying  circumstances,  of  shaping  his  future,  and 
of  correcting  what  was  defective  or  insufficient  in  himself.  He 
knew  that  the  best  instrument  of  success  was  himself,  and  he 
had  so  strong  a  conviction  of  this  that  at  an  age  when  most 
children  think  only  of  prolonging  to  the  utmost  the  hours  of 
liberty,  he  willingly  undertook  additional  work. 

At  eighteen,  Brown  left  the  railway  company's  workshops 
and  apprenticed  himself  to  the  smith's  trade  with  a  small 
employer,  in  order  to  work  at  tool-making.  I  have  no  positive 
information  as  to  why  he  decided  on  this  change.  Un- 
doubtedly he  saw  before  him  in  the  service  of  the  railway 
company  no  other  profession  than  that  of  a  mechanic  without 
independence.  He  already  cherished  the  project  of  setting  up 
business  on  his  own  account,  for  at  one-and-twenty,  as  soon  as 
he  had  completed  his  apprenticeship,  he  began  to  undertake 
contract  work,  which  he  executed  with  the  assistance  of  two 
less  skilful  assistants,  keeping  the  more  delicate  and  difficult 
parts  for  himself.  Even  then  he  was  attempting  the  part  of 
employer,  of  an  industrial  head. 

It  was  then  that  he  married,  extremely  young  it  will  be 
seen,  with  some  money  in  hand,  but  with  no  other  resources 
than  his  own  labour.  In  order  to  add  to  this  a  little,  he 
thought  of  keeping  a  public -house,  which  his  wife  could 
manage  while  he  was  at  work.  At  the  end  of  six  months 
the  experiment  did  not  appear  satisfactory,  and  he  gave  up 
the  lease. 

He  then  entered  the  employment  of  Timmins  and  Co., 
the  well-known  Birmingham  firm,  with  whom  he  remained  for 
two  years.  Then,  seeing  that  wages  were  not  high,  that  his 
family  was  increasing  (he  had  already  two  children),  and  that 
he  should  have  some  difficulty  in  bringing  it  up,  and  as,  more- 
over, he  possessed  some  small  savings,  he  decided  to  start  for 
himself.  His  relations  with  the  firm  of  Timmins  remained 
excellent,  and  it  was  from  his  former  employers  that  he 
received  his  first  order. 

The  next  thing  was  to  find  the  capital.  He  thought  he 
could  not  get  on  without  a  working  or  sleeping  partner,  and 
advertised  in  the  local  newspapers.  As  his  references  were 
good,  he  soon  heard  of  more  than  twenty  persons  desirous  of 


CHAP,  i  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  33 

treating  with  him.  "  One,"  he  told  me,  "  would  have  suited 
me  very  well.  He  had  enough  capital  and  he  proposed  to 
become  a  sleeping  partner.  "  Do  you  keep  accounts  ? "  he 
asked.  "  Yes,  after  a  fashion,  so  as  not  to  pay  twice  over." 
"  Well,  show  me  your  accounts."  After  examining  them,  the 
applicant  offered  to  find  the  money  and  keep  the  books.  "  It 
was  just  what  I  wanted,"  said  Brown,  "  but  unfortunately  for 
me  there  came  along  a  gunmaker  with  £500  in  ready  money. 
I  closed  with  him,  and  soon  found  he  was  the  greatest  rascal  I 
had  ever  met."  At  the  end  of  twelve  months  the  money  he 
had  put  into  the  business  was  lost,  and  Brown  found  himself 
without  a  farthing,  and  with  a  wife  and  four  little  children. 
He  was  then  about  eight-and-twenty. 

This  is,  I  believe,  the  only  incident  in  his  life  of  which  he 
speaks  with  bitterness.  I  rarely  had  a  conversation  of  any 
length  with  him  without  the  subject  of  the  partner  coming 
up.  "  The  profits  of  eight  years  of  hard  work  lost,"  he  would 
say :  "  the  best  years  of  my  life  lost.  It  was  a  hard  blow  for 
me.  I  could  have  realised  a  fine  income  long  ago  without  that 
disastrous  partnership." 

In  his  distress  two  precious  possessions  remained  to  him, 
his  personal  aptitudes  and  his  good  character.  Thus  while 
from  a  material  point  of  view  his  ruin  was  so  complete  that 
he  was  obliged  to  buy  on  credit  the  tools  necessary  for  his 
work,  his  moral  position  was  so  little  impaired  that  he  was 
able  to  set  up  again  on  his  own  account  without  working  for 
others.  A  firm  to  the  head  of  which  he  was  personally 
known  sent  him  a  standing  order  for  tools  of  some  sort. 
Orders  flowed  in,  and  Brown,  with  only  his  two  assistants,  set 
to  work  with  an  energy  which  may  be  imagined.  His 
personal  worth,  and  the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held,  had 
sustained  him  through  this  hard  trial.  He  emerged  from  it 
with  the  twofold  conviction  that  one  should  mistrust  unknown 
partners  and  that  the  best  capital  a  man  can  have  is  himself. 
The  lesson,  hard  though  it  was,  was  perhaps  worth  what  it 
cost.  Henceforth  Brown  could  advance  through  life  with  a 
confident  step,  and  gradually  attain  the  position  we  have 
seen. 

The  experience  has  not  been  of  use  to  himself  alone. 
Indirectly  his  children  also  profit  by  it.  Their  father  not 

D 


34  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

only  affords  them  an  example  of  a  hard-working,  upright 
workman,  rising  by  his  good  conduct  to  the  rank  of  employer, 
but  he  is  also  there  before  their  eyes  as  a  model  of  energy, 
since  he  has  been  forced  to  put  it  to  the  proof,  and  he  can 
teach  them  what  life  is,  for  he  has  experienced  its  hardships 
as  well  as  its  sweetness.  The  counsels  he  gives  them,  the 
ideas  he  inspires  in  them  by  his  deeds  or  his  narratives,  have 
a  manly  ring.  There  is  none  of  the  milk-and-water  stuff  with 
which  many  excellent  parents  stunt  the  mind  and  heart  of 
their  children ;  none  of  that  passive  and  flabby  virtue  whose 
total  inefficiency  young  men  soon  learn  in  the  school  of  life ; 
a  discovery  which  often  leads  them  to  feel  a  contempt  for 
virtue,  because  it  has  been  presented  to  them  under  false 
colours.  Brown  does  not  bring  up  his  children  in  the  belief 
that  good  little  children  who  do  as  they  are  told  will  be 
rewarded  later  by  growing  up  good  little  workmen  who  will 
marry  good  little  wives  and  have  a  good  little  life,  and  all 
this  in  virtue  of  the  intrinsic  efficacy  of  their  good  little 
sentiments !  Even  if  he  wished  to  preach  this  narrow  and 
enervating  doctrine,  his  own  example  would  be  enough  to  give 
it  the  lie.  What  he  does  say,  and  what  his  example  says  still 
more  eloquently,  is  that  each  man's  life  is  a  problem  of  whicli 
he  must  find  the  solution ;  that  this  solution  does  not  exist 
apart ;  that  each  man  must  seek  it  for  himself ;  that  no  one 
can  dispense  another  from  this  responsibility ;  that  if  one 
solution  gives  a  wrong  result,  there  is  nothing  to  do  but  to 
think  of  another ;  that  when  a  solution  which  has  proved 
satisfactory  for  a  time  ceases  to  be  so,  a  man  must  discover 
this  in  time,  leave  it,  and  adopt  a  new  one ;  that  consequently 
there  is  no  solution  which  is  good  once  for  all,  and  which 
dispenses  a  man  once  for  all  from  the  task  of  shaping  his  life. 
Through  the  difficulties  he  encountered  at  the  outset  of  his 
career,  through  the  complete  check  given  to  his  first  enterprise, 
through  the  present  decadence  of  his  trade,  Brown  has  been 
constantly  made  aware  of  these  truths,  and  he  is  so  thoroughly 
permeated  with  them,  that  he  inspires  a  conviction  of  their 
truth  in  those  around  him  by  putting  them  into  a  concrete 
shape  as  living  realities.  The  education  of  his  children  bears 
the  impress  of  them. 

On  my  first  visit  to  Brown,  I  saw  in  his  office  one  of  his 


CHAP,  i  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  35 

younger  sons  engaged  in  dusting  the  room.  It  was  Saturday 
morning,  a  holiday  in  English  schools  "  Every  Saturday,"  he 
said  to  me,  "  he  cleans  my  office.  I  give  him  a  few  coppers 
for  the  job,  and  in  this  way  he  gets  a  little  pocket-money.  In 
his  Whitsuntide  holidays,  he  and  his  brother  asked  to  be 
allowed  to  polish  some  tools  which  were  being  sent  out  of  the 
workshop.  I  was  quite  willing  and  they  polished  two  gross, 
for  which  I  paid  them  the  legal  price." 

Brown  showed  an  evident  satisfaction  in  telling  me  this, 
and  I  was  struck  by  the  earnestness  with  which  he  told  me. 
I  remembered  the  just  reflection  which  my  friend  M.  de 
Tourville  had  made  in  my  presence  some  time  before :  "  England 
does  not  know  what  childhood  is."  There  are  no  children 
there :  children  are  treated  as  men.  Their  little  ambitions 
are  not  laughed  at,  nor  is  the  spring  of  action  broken  by  the 
words,  "  You  are  only  children."  On  the  contrary,  they  are 
always  treated  as  grown-up  persons. 

Thus  they  all  serve  an  apprenticeship  in  determination 
and  responsibility,  and  in  this  lies  the  secret  of  English 
education.  When,  at  ten  years  of  age,  a  child  thinks  of 
polishing  tools,  and  when  he  is  determined  enough  to  polish  a 
gross,  or  when  at  twenty  a  young  man  thinks  of  starting 
business  at  the  Antipodes,  and  is  determined  enough  to  devote 
his  energies  to  this  end  and  to  find  the  means  of  succeeding 
in  it,  surely  the  phenomenon  is  one  and  the  same,  and  who 
shall  say  which  is  the  most  precocious  ? 

Brown's  children  have  been  put  to  work  young — directly 
they  leave  the  elementary  school  at  the  age  of  fourteen.  At 
this  age  Joe  was  sent  into  a  shop,  where  he  earned  5s. 
a  week  by  doing  errands.  Joe  did  not  care  for  this  occupa- 
tion, and  as  his  father  needed  an  assistant  he  soon  returned 
to  the  workshop  where  we  saw  him.  On  the  other  hand, 
Charles,  who  is  in  the  fruit  trade,  never  tried  anything 
else.  He  has  succeeded  very  well,  has  already  accumulated 
a  fair  capital,  is  shortly  to  be  married,  and  thinks  of  setting 
up  for  himself.  His  sweetheart  is  the  daughter  of  a 
'  Birmingham  clockmaker,  a  German  friend  of  his  father's, 
accustomed  to  mind  her  father's  shop  and  help  him  in  keeping 
his  books,  and  quite  ready  to  do  the  same  for  her  husband. 
The  young  man  told  me  with  much  satisfaction  of  the  com- 


36  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

mercial  aptitudes  of  his  intended  wife,  on  which  he  founds, 
and  not  unreasonably,  his  hopes  of  the  future.  It  should  be 
remarked  that  they  have  been  manifested  hitherto  in  an 
entirely  different  line  of  business  from  that  in  which  she 
would  have  to  employ  them  later  if  her  husband  quitted  the 
wholesale  house  where  he  is  employed  to  start  a  retail  shop, 
but  the  aptitude  for  business  is  general,  and  if  one  has  a 
knowledge  of  business  it  is  easy  to  pass  from  one  branch  to 
another. 

The  history  of  the  two  sons  who  went  to  New  Zealand  is 
more  stirring,  and  enables  us  better  to  lay  our  finger  on  the  pro- 
cesses of  home  education,  and  on  the  way  in  which  the  children 
made  a  start  in  life.  Dick,  the  younger,  was  the  first  to  emigrate. 
He  was  then  eighteen,  had  worked  with  his  father,  had  tried 
another  trade,  but  saw  no  future  before  him  in  Birmingham. 
He  was,  moreover,  a  good  workman,  clever,  industrious,  very 
enterprising,  and  more  disposed  to  mould  circumstances  than 
to  yield  to  them.  Why  did  New  Zealand  attract  him  ?  No 
doubt  because  of  the  enthusiastic  accounts  and  glowing 
descriptions  which  every  New  Zealander  sends  home  of  his 
adopted  country,  and  which  are  readily  published  in  English 
periodicals.  In  England  there  is  so  much  talk  about  Japan, 
Australia,  the  Cape,  Vancouver,  or  Calcutta,  that  the  idea  of 
going  to  live  no  matter  where  grows  as  naturally  in  a  young 
English  head  as  the  idea  of  going  to  Paris  and  having  a  good 
time  grows  in  a  young  French  head.  A  lad  of  eighteen 
thinks  of  trying  his  chance  in  New  Zealand,  in  France  he 
thinks  of  becoming  a  soldier  and  doing  something  brilliant ; 
only  the  brilliant  action  does  not  always  present  itself,  while 
one  can  always  try  to  make  a  fortune  and  succeed  in  becom- 
ing independent,  provided  one  has  good  arms,  a  clear  head, 
determination,  and  provided  also  that  favourable  conditions  are 
sought  where  they  are  to  be  found. 

There  was,  therefore,  nothing  extraordinary,  unheard  of,  or 
anomalous  in  this  decision  on  the  part  of  Dick.  It  was  not 
a  decision  which  he  was  induced  to  take  by  the  impossi- 
bility of  making  a  living  in  Birmingham.  Dick  was  really 
making  a  living,  and  a  good  living ;  he  had  even  put  aside 
about  £20,  partly  out  of  his  wages,  partly  out  of  the  profit  he 
made  by  keeping  pigs.  What  drove  him  out  of  England  was 


CHAP,  i  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  37 

the  desire  of  doing  better  elsewhere,  not  his  inability  to 
succeed  in  the  mother  country. 

With  his  £20  he  had  just  enough  to  pay  his  third-class 
passage.  His  father  started  him  with  a  similar  sum  to  help 
him  in  his  enterprise,  and  added  to  that  a  very  complete 
assortment  of  tools,  worth  another  £25.  As  he  knew  how  to 
use  tools,  this  present  would  be  of  the  greatest  use  to  him,  and, 
thanks  to  it,  on  his  arrival  in  New  Zealand  he  was  able  to 
build  his  own  cabin,  and,  as  soon  as  he  had  finished  this  first 
piece  of  work,  to  contract  with  a  neighbour  to  fence  a  certain 
area.  In  every  agricultural  colony  the  enclosure  of  land  is 
one  of  the  heaviest  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  indispensable 
expenses  incurred  by  the  new  settler.  As  the  work  was 
considerable,  Dick  would  have  been  obliged  to  spend  no  little 
time  over  it  if  he  had  done  it  single-handed,  but  he  had  more 
than  one  plan  in  his  head.  He  found  a  man  competent  to 
fence  the  land  who  lacked  the  requisite  tools,  and  so  he  lent 
him  his  own,  and  handed  over  the  job  to  him  for  a  considera- 
tion of  £40.  Meanwhile  he  set  about  finding  something  else. 

Sheep-breeding  and  the  exportation  of  wool  is  one  of  the 
great  resources  of  New  Zealand.  Dick,  who  had  never  seen 
sheep  except  at  the  butcher's,  nor  wool  except  in  a  shop,  soon 
learned  to  wash  and  dry  the  fleeces.  At  the  end  of  six 
months  he  was  a  wool-sorter,  his  task  being  to  class  the  fleeces 
according  to  quality.  Thus  from  a  mere  labourer  he  had 
risen  to  a  connoisseur,  but  he  was  not  to  stop  there.  Six 
months  later  he  bought  his  master's  business,  into  which  he 
soon  introduced  new  developments.  The  process  of  drying  the 
fleeces  by  exposing  them  to  the  air  was  very  tedious  in  a  bad 
season,  and  Dick  conceived  the  idea  of  applying  the  process  of 
steam  drying  which  he  had  seen  employed  in  England.  A 
prize  was  offered  to  the  man  who  should  introduce  the  best 
type  of  dryer.  Dick  hastened  to  write  to  his  father,  who 
purchased  for  him  in  Birmingham  the  elementary  parts  of  the 
machines  he  had  thought  out,  and  sent  him  at  the  same  time 
all  the  smith's  tools  necessary  for  setting  it  up. 

Dick  has  now  given  up  this  business,  and  has  started 
another  of  an  altogether  different  kind.  He  manufactures 
bone  black.  In  this,  too,  his  father  has  been  very  useful  to 
him.  It  was  he  who  bought  and  dispatched  from  Birming- 


38  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

ham  the  bone -crushing  machine  used.  To  judge  by  some 
details,  the  business  is  important.  Dick  had  to  pay  an  import 
duty  of  £60  on  the  machine,  and  the  cost  of  transporting  it 
sixty-two  miles  from  Wellington  by  rail  was  £20.  He  is 
satisfied  with  his  enterprise,  and  only  regrets  his  inability  to 
develop  it  further,  owing  to  the  lack  of  raw  material.  New 
Zealand  produces  a  large  quantity  of  meat,  and  consequently 
of  bone,  and  consumes  relatively  little,  having  only  a  small 
population.  Dick  sees  with  regret  the  departure  of  the  great 
vessels  with  freezing  chambers,  which  carry  away  the  sheep 
whose  bones  he  could  crush  to  such  profit.  Fortunately  for 
him,  the  prosperity  of  the  colony  and  the  constant  increase  in 
its  population  are  elements  of  success  in  his  favour. 

I  asked  Brown  whether  he  dispatched  the  different 
machines  which  his  son  ordered  from  Birmingham  as  presents 
to  encourage  him.  "  By  no  means,"  he  replied ;  "  the  only 
thing  is  that  I  make  nothing  out  of  him.  Being  in  the  trade, 
I  get  a  reduction,  of  which  I  allow  him  the  benefit,  nothing 
more.  I  also  advance  him  the  purchase -money.  At  the 
present  moment  he  still  owes  me  £50  under  this  head,  but 
it  is  carried  to  his  account  just  as  in  the  case  of  an  ordinary 
client." 

This  mode  of  assisting  his  son  is  very  interesting  and  very 
effective.  If  Dick  wishes  to  work  up  a  thing,  he  is  assisted 
by  his  father's  purse  as  well  as  by  his  experience ;  he  is  aided, 
nothing  more.  It  was  only  his  departure  which  induced  his 
father  to  present  him  with  £20  which  he  had  not  earned,  and 
this  was  to  render  fruitful  an  enterprise  in  view  of  which  the 
lad  had  himself  amassed  a  similar  sum. 

Brown  acts  in  the  same  way  towards  his  other  children. 
As  soon  as  they  are  capable  of  providing  for  themselves  he 
throws  them  on  the  resources  of  their  labour,  and  teaches 
them  to  become  capable  of  providing  for  themselves  as  soon 
as  possible.  In  this  there  is  very  little  difference  between  the 
English  and  American  working-classes.  In  both  there  is  a 
deep-rooted  conviction  that  a  man  with  a  head  and  a  pair  of 
hands  ought  to  rely  on  himself  for  a  living. 

John,  the  eldest  brother,  represents  a  less  accomplished 
type  of  emigrant  than  Dick.  He  decided  to  emigrate  on 
seeing  the  success  of  his  younger  brother,  and  is,  so  to  speak, 


CHAP,  i  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  39 

acting  under  his  influence.  Thus,  in  many  English  families, 
the  more  enterprising  members  influence  the  others  to  emigrate. 
John  had  worked  with  his  father  until  he  was  about  twenty- 
two  ;  he  was  a  good  workman,  a  well-conducted,  steady  young 
fellow,  who  had  saved  a  little  money,  and  was  already  engaged 
to  a  Birmingham  dressmaker.  At  a  time  when  things  were 
going  far  from  well,  and  acting  on  the  advice  of  his  father, 
who  foresaw  no  possible  future  in  his  calling,  he  resolved  to 
go  and  join  Dick.  In  order  to  give  him  some  business  experi- 
ence, his  father  took  him  from  the  anvil  and  the  hammer,  and 
employed  him  for  six  months  in  the  commercial  part  of  his 
work,  and  then  let  him  embark  for  Wellington.  In  order  to 
make  up  the  little  bit  of  money  which  had  been  broken  into 
considerably  by  the  cost  of  the  passage,  Brown  gave  him,  as 
he  had  given  Dick,  £15  or  £20,  and  wished  him  good  luck. 

When  young  Brown  landed  in  New  Zealand  his  brother 
promptly  told  him,  "  The  first  thing  to  do  is  to  learn  to  milk 
a  cow.  When  you  go  and  ask  for  work  on  a  farm  they  will 
ask  you  at  once  whether  you  can  milk,  and  unless  you  can 
they  will  have  nothing  to  say  to  you." 

Thus  warned,  John  hastened  to  learn  to  milk,  and  this 
Birmingham  blacksmith  soon  found  a  place  with  a  colonist. 
To  succeed  over  there  a  man  must  not  cling  too  closely  to  his 
own  special  line.  In  the  United  States,  in  Kansas,  I  met  a 
man  who  had  formerly  been  an  assistant  in  a  Paris  shop.  His 
first  piece  of  work  in  America  was  digging  a  grave.  It  was  on 
a  lonely  farm ;  some  one  had  just  died,  and  there  was  neither 
cemetery  nor  funeral  service.  The  farmer  showed  the  new- 
comer a  pickaxe  and  a  spade,  and  asked  him  to  come  with 
him  and  act  as  gravedigger.  He  too  found  no  opening  in  his 
own  special  line. 

John  did  not,  however,  remain  long  at  agriculture.  His 
brother,  after  having  had  a  partner  in  his  bone-black 
business,  had  become  the  sole  proprietor,  and  took  him  into 
partnership.  To-day  their  success  is  so  well  established  that 
Dick  wants  to  see  the  whole  family  emigrate  to  New  Zealand. 
Joe  would,  I  think,  be  willing  enough  to  join  them,  but  for  the 
fact  that  his  father  needs  him  in  Birmingham.  Mrs.  Brown, 
it  appears,  is  also  quite  ready  to  emigrate,  and  her  husband 
banters  her  on  her  New  Zealand  dreams.  "  My  wife  feels 


40  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

sure  that  she  would  make  a  capital  sheep -breeder;  but  as 
for  myself,  I  am  too  old  to  begin  a  new  life."  The  probability 
is  that  the  Browns  will  not  decide  to  emigrate  in  a  body,  but 
that  the  two  elder  ones  will  attract  some  of  the  others  to  New 
Zealand.  To  begin  with,  the  young  dressmaker  who  was 
engaged  to  John  is  gaily  preparing  to  pack  up  and  keep  her 
troth  to  the  blacksmith  turned  colonist. 

Charles,  who  is  in  the  fruit  trade,  is  also  as  we  have  seen 
to  be  married  shortly.  Brown  informed  me  of  his  generous 
intentions  to  the  young  couple,  to  whom  he  will  give  their 
spoons,  forks,  and  knives.  He  will  interfere  only  to  make  a 
present,  as  on  the  occasion  of  the  departure  of  his  elder  sons 
for  New  Zealand,  but  there  is  no  thought  of  a  dowry. 

It  is  the  same  in  the  case  of  the  daughters.  "  I  married 
my  wife  without  a  penny,"  he  says,  "  and  my  daughters  must 
marry  in  the  same  way.  It  is  not  the  same  here  as  in  Ireland, 
where  parents  are  in  the  habit  of  giving  their  daughter  a 
dowry  equal  to  what  the  young  man  has.  A  young  man  with 
£500  would  not  marry  a  girl  who  had  only  £450.  It  is  a 
terrible  business  in  that  country  to  have  daughters,  or  sisters 
either,  for  brothers  are  often  obliged  to  work  a  long  time  to 
turn  the  girls  out." 

The  eldest  daughter  is  fitting  herself  to  get  her  own  living 
if  she  is  destined  to  be  an  old  maid.  She  is  a  pupil-teacher 
in  the  school  where  she  was  educated,  and  is  working  to  pass 
the  examinations  required  to  qualify  her  as  a  certificated 
teacher.  The  second  daughter  is  only  thirteen  or  fourteen. 

It  is  clear  that  these  children,  though  reared  in  moderate 
comfort,  cannot  in  any  way  count  on  their  father's  inheritance 
to  enable  them  to  continue  to  live  in  the  same  style.  Brown 
spends  more  than  £240  a  year,  and  cannot  leave  more  than 
£2800.  Thus  there  is  no  relation  between  his  expenses  and 
the  interest  on  his  capital  It  is  his  labour  which  makes  up 
the  difference,  and  it  is  their  labour  which  must  provide 
for  them. 

I  asked  him  how  he  intended  to  dispose  of  his  fortune. 
"  That  is  very  simple,"  he  replied  ;  "  I  have  made  my  will,  and 
I  have  directed  that  at  my  death  my  premises  in  Carlton 
Street  and  my  business  shall  be  sold,  as  there  is  no  future 
there  for  my  children.  Out  of  the  money  thus  realised, 


CHAP,  i  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  41 

together  with  some  investments  I  shall  leave,  the  first  charge 
will  be  a  suitable  jointure  for  my  wife,  and  then  the  children 
will  divide  the  rest."  "  And  if  you  felt  confident  of  the  future 
of  your  trade,  if  you  desired  it  to  be  continued  by  one  of  your 
children,  how  would  you  go  to  work  ? "  "  In  that  case  I  should 
make  arrangements  allowing  one  of  them  to  keep  it,  but  I 
should  not  benefit  him  exclusively :  he  would  have  to  compen- 
sate his  brothers  and  sisters,  and  to  pay  his  mother's  jointure. 
Otherwise  it  would  not  be  just  to  the  others." 

This  answer  might  have  fallen  from  the  lips  of  a  French 
father.  However,  many  English  people  in  the  lower  classes 
think  and  act  thus :  it  is  almost  entirely  among  the  aristocracy 
that  the  eldest  son  inherits  everything.  In  France,  how- 
ever, the  system  of  equal  division  leads  parents  to  the  system- 
atic limitation  of  their  family,  and  weakens  the  energy  of 
the  children.  Why  is  it  not  so  on  this  side  of  the  Channel  ? 
The  answer  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  just  pointed  out  in  the 
case  of  Brown,  which  is  true  not  only  of  the  working  class, 
but  of  the  greater  part  of  the  middle  class.  People  do  not 
live  on  the  interest  of  their  capital,  they  rarely  seek  to  accumu- 
late a  capital  sufficient  to  enable  them  to  live  without  working, 
and  there  is  no  idea  whatever  of  doing  this  for  the  advantage 
of  the  children.  Thus,  under  an  identical  form,  two  diametri- 
cally opposite  customs  are  concealed — the  French  custom, 
which  bases  the  prosperity  of  a  family  on  the  accumulated 
labour  of  a  few  generations,  assisted  by  the  wise  administra- 
tion of  those  who  inherit,  and  the  English  custom,  which  bases 
the  prosperity  of  each  generation  on  its  own  toil.  What 
matter,  then,  that  one  may  divide  what  is  left  by  this  genera- 
tion as  one  pleases  ?  It  is  not  on  this  that  the  next  generation 
will  live.  Moreover,  the  freedom  of  bequest  permits  the  father 
to  dispose  of  it  entirely  at  his  own  discretion,  and  he  can  do 
this  without  any  risk  of  causing  ill-feeling,  provided  he  has 
any  weighty  reason,  and  if  he  does  not  violently  disappoint 
the  expectations  of  any  of  his  children.  The  position  of  the 
French  father  is  quite  different.  He  is  the  administrator  of 
the  property  he  received  from  his  family,  and  he  is  bound  to 
transmit  it  to  his  heirs. 

We  now  see  from  what  has  been  said  how  the  future  of 
the  family  we  have  studied  is  shaping  itself.  The  decadence 


42  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

of  the  father's  trade  does  not  affect  it,  and  the  father  himself 
would  know  how  to  free  himself  if  this  decadence  were  ac- 
celerated. The  children  are  looking  in  other  directions,  and 
those  who  have  reached  manhood,  four  in  number,  have 
succeeded  in  different  degrees,  and  by  means  of  different 
aptitudes,  in  making  their  own  way.  To  meet  the  economic 
and  technical  transformation  which  is  destroying  his  workshop, 
Brown  has  found,  for  himself  and  for  his  family,  an  excellent 
remedy,  a  perfect  solution ;  and  this  he  has  applied  unaided, 
without  the  assistance  of  any  one. 

Such  is  this  interesting  figure  of  an  English  workman.  If 
we  judged  from  this  single  type,  we  should  form  a  false  idea 
of  the  industrial  population  of  these  islands,  although  nothing 
could  be  further  from  my  intention.  Placed  in  specially  un- 
favourable industrial  conditions,  belated  in  a  trade  that  is 
doomed,  Brown  has  succeeded  in  triumphing  over  these 
obstacles  and  in  opening  out  a  wide  avenue  towards  the  future. 
He  has  resolutely  embraced  the  cause  of  progress,  even  though 
such  progress  is  ruining  his  calling,  and  has  taken  measures  to 
escape  the  disaster  which  must  overtake  his  trade.  Few  men 
are  capable  of  achieving  such  a  master  stroke,  and  there  are 
not  many  of  whom  it  is  required.  The  trades  most  menaced 
by  the  transformations  of  machinery  no  longer  attract  new 
recruits  ("  There  are  no  apprentices  now,"  said  Brown),  while 
in  the  new  industries  to  which  the  young  devote  themselves 
the  material  conditions  of  labour  push  them  in  the  direction  of 
the  necessary  evolution. 

Thus,  in  their  case,  the  operation  which  Brown  has  achieved 
by  sheer  force  of  superior  personal  qualifications  is  greatly 
facilitated.  Machinery,  in  proportion  as  it  gains  more  com- 
plete possession  of  industry,  renders  the  transformation  of  the 
workman  at  once  easier  and  more  general.  By  despecialising 
him,  it  widens  his  technical  aptitudes  and  multiplies  his 
chances  of  employment.  It  furnishes  the  surest  principle  of 
solving  the  modern  Labour  Question,  by  leading  the  worker  to 
rely  upon  himself  and  upon  the  wider  development  of  his 
personal  aptitudes,  instead  of  upon  a  special  trade.  No  doubt, 
as  a  rule,  the  workers  under  our  modern  organisation  of 
industry  are  in  no  special  danger  of  seeing  their  trade  dis- 
appear in  consequence  of  a  new  invention.  Although  no  one 


CHAP,  i  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  43 

can  foresee  where  the  application  of  machinery  will  end,  it 
may  be  admitted  that  where  the  industrial  evolution  has  pro- 
ceeded so  rapidly,  it  will  be  for  some  time  stationary,  and  that 
such  a  trade  will  be  more  sheltered  from  an  immediate  crisis 
than  one  where  this  evolution  has  hardly  begun.  Nevertheless, 
there  are  other  dangers  to  fear.  In  the  modern  organisation 
of  industry,  over-production,  the  constant  fluctuations  of  the 
market,  and  international  competition  frequently  bring  about  a 
strained  situation,  which  occasionally  leads  to  a  prolonged  cessa- 
tion of  work.  The  famous  textile  strike  in  Lancashire  in  1893, 
the  general  strike  of  English  miners  which  speedily  followed, 
and  the  recent  strike  of  the  Scottish  miners,  proclaim  only  too 
eloquently  that  the  great  modern  enterprises  are  not  guaranteed 
against  long  interruptions  of  work.  At  every  stage  of  evolution 
the  workman  is  confronted  with  the  spectre  of  enforced  in- 
activity, which  we  call  the  question  of  the  unemployed.  Mere 
prudence  indicates  that  the  workman  must  be  raised  to  the 
level  of  these  difficult  circumstances,  for  which  no  form  of 
Socialism  offers  an  adequate  remedy,  that  he  must  be  able  to 
adapt  himself,  that  he  must  become  mobile  and  supple,  that  he 
must  be  able  to  vary  his  means  of  existence,  and  be  ready  for 
any  emergency.  From  this  point  of  view  Brown  is  a  figure 
of  the  heroic  age,  a  pioneer,  and  as  such  it  is  worth  while  to 
recount  his  life. 

We  must  now  turn  our  eyes  in  another  direction.  Brown 
furnished  us  with  an  excellent  type,  inasmuch  as  he  represented 
in  a  remarkable  degree  the  spirit  of  individual  initiative.  How- 
ever, very  few  working  men  who  find  their  trade  threatened 
accept  the  situation  as  readily  as  he.  The  greater  number 
grumble,  endeavour  to  limit  the  number  of  workers  by  artificial 
means  while  the  number  of  consumers  is  decreasing  from 
natural  causes,  form  associations  of  working  men  for  this 
purpose,  or  vegetate  in  isolation  and  mediocrity.  Analysing 
carefully  the  causes  which  rendered  Brown  capable  of  detaching 
himself  from  his  trade,  his  commercial  aptitudes  are  conspicuous 
among  them.  Brown  is  a  skilled  workman,  consequently  he 
is  dependent  on  his  trade,  but  he  is  also  an  employer,  that  is 
to  say,  a  trader,  and  thus  he  escapes  the  tyranny  of  his  trade. 
He  could  transfer  the  business  experience  and  the  personal 
qualities  which  have  contributed  to  his  success  into  a  business 


44  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

of  quite  a  different  nature  from  his  own ;  whereas  the  work- 
man imprisoned  in  his  specialism  cannot  disengage  himself 
when  his  trade  fails,  and  so  becomes  involved  in  its  ruin. 
Nevertheless,  he  does  not  allow  himself  to  be  crushed  without 
a  struggle,  and  we  shall  see  to  what  means  he  has  recourse 
for  that  purpose,  and  shall  thus  study  an  interesting  side  of  the 
Trade  Union  movement. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  COLLECTIVE  RESISTANCE  OF  THE  TRADES  CHIEFLY  AFFECTED 
BY  THE  INDUSTRIAL  EVOLUTION 

CERTAIN  trades  meet  the  transformations  of  modern  industry 
by  a  special  method  of  resistance,  which  we  cannot  study  by 
simply  observing  a  single  industrial  family  belonging  to  such  a 
trade.  To  understand  aright  this  movement  of  resistance  we 
must  enter  into  relation  with  its  official  representatives  in  the 
various  Trade  Unions.  In  such  cases  it  is  of  little  use  to 
penetrate  into  the  home  of  the  worker,  to  make  the  acquaintance 
of  his  family,  his  mode  of  life,  and  his  methods  of  education. 
Such  a  worker  does  not  claim,  like  Joseph  Brown,  to  solve  the 
difficulties  he  encounters  by  his  own  unaided  efforts ;  on  the 
contrary,  he  declares  this  means  insufficient,  and  relies  on 
the  combined  effort  of  all  his  fellow- workers  and  on  the  power 
of  the  organisation  to  which  he  belongs. 

It  is  absolutely  essential  to  examine  what  can  be  done  by 
an  organisation  of  workmen  when  it  is  engaged  in  resisting  the 
progress  of  industrial  evolution.  This,  of  course,  is  only  one 
side  of  the  vast  question  of  labour  organisations,  and  we  shall 
deal  hereafter  with  the  part  they  play  in  the  mines  and  in  the 
factory,  but  here  we  broach  a  special  point  without  prejudging 
the  question  of  their  general  efficacy. 

When  we  are  dealing  with  trades  at  war  with  the  conse- 
quences of  industrial  evolution,  or  with  mines,  or  with  the 
factory  system,  we  find  bond  fide  working  men  at  the  head  of 
Trade  Unions  in  England.  This  circumstance  facilitates  the 
task  of  an  observer  who  is  anxious  to  learn  the  tendencies  of 
such  or  such  a  trade.  By  addressing  himself  to  the  secretary 


46  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

or  the  president  of  the  association  of  that  trade,  he  finds  him- 
self brought  into  communication  with  a  man  who  expresses  with 
sincerity  and  accuracy  the  mental  attitude  of  his  comrades,  and 
who  is  usually  willing  to  explain  his  programme,  his  aspirations, 
and  his  grievances.  This  is  intelligible,  for  such  a  man  is 
in  the  habit  of  presenting  his  ideas  to  the  public,  and  of 
creating  an  agitation  around  them,  and  any  one,  therefore,  who 
comes  to  him  for  information,  more  especially  if  he  intends  to 
make  public  the  information  he  obtains,  is  an  unexpected  ally 
and  as  such  eagerly  welcomed. 

This  is  not  the  difficulty,  which  lies  wholly  in  the  task  of 
disentanglement  among  the  immense  variety  of  trades  which 
are  in  revolt  against  industrial  evolution.  Run  over  the  long 
list  of  Trade  Unions,  and  you  will  see  that  a  large  number  of 
them  enact  measures  tending  to  restrain  competition ;  to  limit 
the  number  of  members  by  means  of  tests,  certificates  of 
apprenticeship,  etc. ;  to  attempt,  in  short,  under  one  form  or 
another,  to  return  to  the  old  close  bodies,  the  ancient  corpora- 
tions or  guilds.  If  we  content  ourselves  with  reading  the 
rules,  the  impression  of  confusion  will  gain  upon  us,  and  we 
shall  well  be  able  to  believe  that  all  these  analogous  measures 
correspond  to  an  analogous  situation.  If,  however,  we  lay 
aside  the  written  documents,  and  converse  with  the  workers 
themselves,  if  we  see  them  at  their  work  and  make  inquiries 
from  their  employers,  we  shall  discover  notable  differences,  and 
gradually  we  shall  begin  to  see  how  to  classify  this  crowd  of 
corporations,  all  eager  to  shut  themselves  within  barriers  as 
exclusive  as  the  Great  Wall  of  China. 

No  doubt  they  are  all  trying  to  carry  on  the  same  struggle. 
Instead  of  yielding,  like  Brown,  to  the  force  of  new  conditions, 
they  try  to  make  these  conditions  yield  to  their  personal  con- 
venience, and  here  we  come  upon  the  wholly  artificial  character 
of  their  means  of  defence.  But  while  some  are  so  far  success- 
ful in  their  attempt,  or  at  least  derive  important  advantages 
from  it,  others  fail  completely,  and  there  are  even  some  which 
admit  their  defeat,  and  are  only  dragging  out  a  miserable  exist- 
ence. This  amounts  to  saying  that  the  new  conditions  are  not 
identical  for  these  three  classes  of  trades.  In  the  first  they 
are  less  accentuated,  and  permit  the  survival  to  a  great  extent 
of  a  trade  organisation  of  the  ancient  type ;  in  the  second  the 


CHAP,  ii  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  47 

competition  of  machinery  is  already  making  itself  felt,  and 
renders  the  success  of  resistance  difficult;  in  the  third  the 
triumph  of  machinery  has  left  only  archaeological  evidence  of 
the  ancient  trade. 

These  are  three  phases  of  a  struggle  corresponding  to  three 
degrees  of  industrial  evolution.  It  is  not  enough  to  say  that 
production  by  hand  represents  a  type  threatened  by  machinery 
and  ready  to  disappear.  We  must  distinguish  among  the 
different  forms  of  production  by  hand — those  which  are  still 
in  full  vitality,  those  which  are  seriously  affected,  and  those 
which  are  moribund.  This  will  explain  the  varying  success  of 
the  protective  measures  devised  by  Trade  Unions. 

Let  us  first  look  at  the  group  of  trades  which  are  as  yet 
but  little  menaced,  and  which  are  more  or  less  organised  in 
close  corporations. 

I.   Close  Trades  as  yet  but  little  menaced. 

The  Glassworkers. — There  is  no  trade  within  my  know- 
ledge which  is  more  strictly  guarded  against  all  intrusion  than 
that  of  the  glassworkers.  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  be 
thoroughly  informed  about  the  Glassworkers'  Union  by  a 
most  interesting  personality,  Mr.  Eli  Bloor,  of  Birmingham,  a 
working-man  magistrate,  and  a  remarkable  type  of  what  is 
called — falsely  enough — the  old  Trade  Unionism.  He  is  a 
clever  workman,  justly  proud  of  his  technical  aptitudes,  enjoy- 
ing a  most  honourable  position  not  merely  in  his  own  calling, 
but  among  his  fellow-countrymen.  He  is  one  of  those  working 
men  whom  the  Government,  acting  on  an  intelligent  initiative, 
has  raised  to  the  position  of  justice  of  the  peace,1  and  who  seem 
marked  out  by  their  popularity  and  tact  to  fill  these  delicate 
functions  in  towns. 

I  could  not  have  had  a  kinder  or  better-informed  cicerone 
to  introduce  me  into  the  complicated  labyrinth  which  con- 
stitutes the  regulations  of  the  United  Flint  Glass  Makers 
Society. 

1  From  September  1892  to  September  1893  seventy  working  men  were 
appointed  justices  of  the  peace  in  England  and  Wales.  This  is  an  unprecedented 
circumstance.  See  the  Report  of  the  Parliamentary  Committee  of  the  Trade 
Union  Congress,  1893. 


48  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

"  We  work  in  shifts,"  said  Mr.  Bloor,  "  and  each  shift 
consists  of  five  persons — the  superior  workman,  his  assistant, 
one  youth,  and  two  boys.  To  limit  admittance  to  our  body  we 
have  made  an  agreement  with  the  employers  under  which  they 
are  not  allowed  to  have  more  than  one  apprentice  for  two  shifts, 
that  is,  10  per  cent  of  the  staff." 

When  I  expressed  surprise  at  so  strict  a  limitation,  Mr. 
Bloor  pointed  out  that,  in  spite  of  what  is  often  asserted,  glass- 
making  is  a  very  healthy  occupation. 

"We  have  a  very  low  mortality,"  he  said,  "and  I  have 
seen  men  work  splendidly  when  over  sixty,  and  sometimes  over 
seventy  years  of  age." 

But,  as  we  shall  shortly  see,  the  low  rate  of  mortality  is 
not  enough  in  itself  to  explain  why  a  measure  so  rigorously 
exclusive  has  been  introduced  and  observed.  A  difficulty 
suggested  itself  to  me  at  once. 

"  If  your  Union  compels  the  masters  to  have  so  few  appren- 
tices, do  not  they  run  some  risk  of  being  occasionally  in  want 
of  men  ? " 

"  The  Union  provides  for  that,"  replied  Mr.  Bloor.  "  When 
an  employer  requires  a  man  he  applies  to  us,  and  we  undertake 
to  find  him  one  in  England,  Scotland,  or  Ireland.  The  expenses 
of  bringing  him  over  are  charged  to  the  Union ;  we  guarantee, 
in  fact,  to  find  any  employer  the  man  he  requires." 

"  Then  you  force  on  an  employer  who  applies  to  you  such 
and  such  a  workman.  He  has  no  longer  the  choice  of  his 
staff?" 

"  Not  altogether.  If  an  employer  knows  several  men  out 
of  work,  he  can  choose  among  them.  We  do  not  interfere  on 
this  point,  only  his  choice  is  of  course  limited  to  members  of 
the  Union." 

This  restriction  is  a  real  one,  and  so  energetically  enforced, 
that  during  the  forty  years  he  has  been  at  work  Mr.  Bloor  has 
never  met  a  "  blackleg."  *  It  is  true  that  the  limitation  of  the 
number  of  apprentices  to  one  for  two  shifts  is  not  very  ancient : 
the  agreement  enforcing  it  was  signed  by  the  masters  at  the 
end  of  a  long  strike  in  1868. 

"  At  that  time,"  said  Mr.  Bloor,  "  there  were  too  many 

1  According  to  the  official  documents  published  by  the  Trade  Union  Con- 
gress in  1893,  the  Union  numbered  2133  members. 


CHAP,  ii  IN  SMALL   WORKSHOPS  49 

apprentices,  and  we  were  unwilling  to  continue  to  teach  the 
trade  to  a  swarm  of  people,  to  breed  competitors  for  the 
future." 

This  reason  is  one  which  carries  more  conviction  than 
that  of  the  low  mortality.  It  should  be  remarked  that  the 
plethora  of  apprentices  in  the  trade  at  that  time  is  explained 
by  a  simple  and  well-known  fact.  The  use  of  gas  in  England 
gave  rise,  during  the  second  third  of  the  century,  to  a  greatly 
increased  demand  for  gas-fittings,  and  consequently  the  demand 
for  globes  of  all  kinds  increased  considerably  for  some  years, 
until  gas  was  laid  on  in  all  the  centres  and  all  the  houses 
were  provided  for,  when  there  came  a  lull  in  the  demand. 
The  glass  industry,  which  had  admitted  apprentices  without 
restriction  to  supply  the  needs  of  its  development,  now  experi- 
enced a  crisis  which  led  to  the  strike,  and  rendered  apparent 
the  disadvantage  of  admitting  too  large  a  number  of  apprentices. 

However,  this  does  not  explain  why  the  masters  consented 
to  tie  their  hands  in  this  fashion.  They  must  have  been  at 
the  mercy  of  their  men  to  sign  such  terms,  or  they  would 
simply  have  changed  their  staff.  How,  then,  did  the  workers 
hold  them  ? 

The  answer  is,  by  their  special  skill.  Glassworkers 
cannot  be  replaced  like  mere  labourers,  for  the  work  can  be 
executed  only  by  skilled  workmen.  It  needs  an  experienced 
eye  and  long  practice  to  judge,  for  instance,  what  contraction 
glass  will  undergo  when  cooled,  and,  in  the  present  state  of 
the  industry  at  least,  it  is  impossible  to  measure  or  weigh  the 
incandescent  paste  which  waits  the  workman's  breath  to  give 
it  form.  "  It  is  all  guesswork,"  said  Mr.  Bloor,  and  he  was 
right.  Technical  skill  is  thus  absolutely  essential,  and  no 
inventor  of  machines  has  yet  found  out  how  to  dispense 
with  it. 

Thus  this  trade  is  in  the  position  of  the  old  guilds  before 
the  advent  of  machinery.  If  its  members  constitute  a  close 
body,  it  is  because  they  also  constitute  a  special  body,  whose 
special  skill  cannot  be  replaced.  Thus  it  is  intelligible  that 
the  Glass  Makers'  Union  can  impose  its  complex  regulations  by 
means  of  a  rigorous  discipline. 

Nothing  better  illustrates  the  specialised  character  of  the 
glassworker  than  the  rate  at  which  an  apprentice's  salary 

E 


50  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

rises.  Apprentices  usually  enter  at  fifteen  or  sixteen  years 
of  age,  and  during  the  first  year  they  are  paid  only  14s.  a 
week.  Then  they  receive  a  rise  of  3s.  a  week  every  year, 
until  the  age  of  twenty-one,  when  the  term  of  apprenticeship 
is  over,  and  a  man  can  earn  about  35s.  a  week.  I  have 
rarely  observed  so  great  an  annual  rise  in  an  apprentice's 
salary.  The  reason  is  that  every  year  of  his  apprenticeship 
the  future  workman  acquires  a  greater  manual  dexterity,  a 
nicety  of  eye,  an  adroitness,  which  increase  in  a  very  marked 
degree  the  value  of  his  services. 

This  professional  knack  is  so  important  in  a  glassworker 
that  the  best  endowed — those  who  early  display  these  special 
technical  qualities — may  succeed  in  earning  even  higher  wages 
than  those  just  mentioned  even  before  they  are  out  of  their 
apprenticeship.  Mr.  Bloor  instanced  the  case  of  one  of  his 
sons  who  died  young,  who,  at  eighteen  years  of  age,  was 
already  earning  35s.  a  week.  "In  our  trade,  you  see," 
he  added,  "  we  take  into  consideration  what  a  man  is 
worth." 

So  much  is  this  the  case  that  the  same  kind  of  work  may 
be  paid  at  different  rates  according  to  the  merit  of  the  men 
engaged  on  it ;  in  other  words,  the  scale  of  prices  is  not  the 
same  for  all  workmen.  This  leads  me  to  say  a  word  about 
the  way  in  which  wages  are  calculated. 

The  work  of  a  shift  is  fixed  by  the  piece,  without  the 
power  of  exceeding  the  allotted  daily  task.  Only  the  quantity 
of  paste  which  has  been  prepared  can  be  melted  and  blown, 
but  if  the  shift  does  not  succeed  in  finishing  it  in  a  day  it  is 
paid  only  for  the  work  actually  done.  This  is  the  first  cause 
of  difference  between  good  and  bad  workmen,  between  those 
who  work  quickly  and  those  who  work  slowly.  A  second  is 
that  failures  are  charged  to  the  workman.  A  piece  pro- 
nounced defective  is  broken,  and  is  not  reckoned  in  calculating 
the  wage  due.  The  work  must  not  only  be  quick,  it  must 
also  be  careful  and  competent.  The  third  cause,  already 
mentioned,  is  that  prices  for  the  same  piece  of  work  vary 
according  to  the  skill  of  the  shift  at  work  upon  it. 

"  You  see  those  chandelier  globes  above  our  heads,"  said 
Mr.  Bloor.  "  For  some  shifts  that  represents  the  most  difficult 
work  they  can  do,  for  others,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  an  easy 


CHAP,  ii  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  51 

matter,  and  a  master  will  not  give  them  an  order  of  this  sort 
unless  he  has,  for  the  moment,  nothing  more  delicate  on  which 
to  employ  them.  If  he  does  give  them  the  job  he  will  be 
obliged  to  pay  more  for  the  globes,  because  a  clever  workman's 
time  is  worth  more  than  that  of  an  inferior  workman.  In 
that  case,  for  thirty  globes  the  head  man  will  receive  4s., 
his  assistant  2s.  8d.,  the  youth  Is.  9d.,  the  two  boys  6d. 
each.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  shift  can  do  nothing  more 
difficult,  the  head  will  only  receive  2s.  6d.  for  thirty  globes, 
his  assistant  2s.,  the  youth  Is.  6d.,  and  the  two  boys  6d.  each. 
This  custom  is  not  merely  required  by  the  Union,  but  the 
masters  also  gain  by  it  in  a  sense,  for  it  is  to  their  advantage, 
even  at  some  sacrifice,  to  keep  their  cleverest  workmen,  in 
order  to  be  always  in  a  position  to  execute  any  delicate  orders 
received." 

Of  course  these  differences  in  the  price  by  the  piece  are 
not  in  force  in  manufactories  where  bottle-glass  only  is  made. 
There  the  work  is  simple  and  uniform,  the  workmen  all 
belong  to  the  same  professional  rank,  or  rather,  there  is  no 
distinction  of  rank  among  them.  Distinction  of  rank  only 
appears  in  the  varied  work  which  demands  from  the  workman 
qualities  not  far  removed  from  those  of  an  artist. 

Nor  is  mere  manual  skill  all.  The  glassworker  must  bring 
the  greatest  concentration  and  tension  of  mind  to  his  work 
while  he  is  at  it.  If,  for  instance,  he  has  to  execute  a  new 
model,  he  must  bring  into  play  his  faculties  both  of  observation 
and  invention. 

I  asked  Mr.  Bloor  whether  the  Union  agitated  for  the 
eight  hours  day. 

"It  would  be  impossible,"  he  replied ;  "  the  physical  fatigue 
and  mental  exhaustion  would  be  too  great  if  we  had  to  work 
eight  hours  on  end.  Further,  there  is  a  technical  difficulty  in 
our  trade  in  the  way  of  an  eight  hours  day.  When  the  fires 
are  lighted,  they  must  burn  without  interruption,  that  is  to  say 
twenty-four  hours  a  day,  unless  there  is  to  be  a  considerable 
waste  of  heat.  Four  shifts  of  six  hours  make  up  the  twenty- 
four  hours,  but  the  number  of  men  employed  is  only  ten,  as 
each  man  works  six  hours  by  day  and  six  hours  by  night. 
Thus  we  have  days  of  twelve  hours  broken  by  a  rest  of  six 
hours,  but  this  only  lasts  from  Monday  morning  to  Friday 


52  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

morning.  From  Friday  to  Monday  they  are  busy  preparing 
the  paste  for  us  to  bake  and  blow,  and  we  cannot  be  in  the 
manufactory  while  this  work  is  being  done." 

Briefly,  glassworkers  work  forty-eight  hours  a  week,  from 
which,  in  the  case  of  each  six  hours  shift,  we  must  deduct 
an  hour  for  meals,  and,  according  to  Mr.  Bloor's  estimate,  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  lost  in  waiting  till  the  glass  is  ready.  Mr. 
Bloor  estimated  the  amount  of  real  manual  work  done  in  a 
week  at  thirty-six  hours. 

This  is  all  one  can  reasonably  ask  of  men  who  perform  a 
task  at  once  so  laborious  and  so  delicate.  I  have  given  these 
details  to  show  how  very  much  a  skilled  workman  the  glass- 
worker  is.  He  must  have  strong  lungs  and  a  robust  con- 
stitution to  support  the  labour  of  blowing  and  the  excessive 
heat  in  which  he  works,  and  further,  he  needs  in  addition  to 
the  acquired  habit  a  natural  nicety  of  hand  and  eye.  The 
gulf  which  separates  him  from  the  mere  machine -tender  is 
indeed  a  wide  one. 

The  position  is  now  clear.  The  glassworkers  are  highly 
skilled  experts,  men  who  cannot  be  replaced,  whom  the  masters 
cannot  afford  to  lose,  and  with  whom  they  must  keep  on  good 
terms,  and  consequently  they  have  been  able  to  form  them- 
selves into  a  close  corporation,  entrance  into  which  they 
jealously  prevent.  Their  success  is  due  to  the  exceptional 
position  they  occupy  in  the  labour  market. 

But  has  this  apparent  success  enabled  them  to  attain  their 
end  ?  This  success  was  not  their  end,  these  barriers  round 
their  trade  were  originally  erected,  not  from  any  aristocratic 
prejudice,  but  with  an  essentially  practical  aim,  that  of  avoiding 
compulsory  idleness.  The  idea  which  inspired  them  in  the 
struggle  was  this — "  The  demand  for  glass  is  limited,  and  to 
maintain  equilibrium  we  must  limit  our  numbers."  It  remains 
to  be  discovered  whether  they  have  succeeded  in  creating  this 
happy  state  of  equilibrium. 

That  they  have  not  done  so  is  evident  from  Mr.  Bloor's 
complaints.  At  the  time  I  met  him  (June  1893)  he  was  not 
in  full  work,  and  the  situation,  which  had  already  lasted  some 
time,  still  threatened  to  continue.  Although  the  Union 
can  keep  the  number  of  its  members  constant,  it  is  unable  to 
keep  the  number  of  orders  constant.  It  is  here  that  it  finds 


CHAP,  ii  /TV  SMALL   WORKSHOPS  53 

its  methods  powerless,  and  as  it  is  a  question  of  keeping  a 
constant  ratio  between  two  quantities,  one  of  which  increases 
or  diminishes  independently  of  all  control,  the  fact  that  the 
second  quantity  remains  constant  does  not  produce  any  special 
result.  Of  this  Mr.  Bloor  is  also  aware,  for  he  pointed  out  a 
number  of  causes  to  account  for  the  falling  off  in  the  demand 
for  glass,  as  for  instance,  that  lamps  in  railway  carriages  do 
not  need  to  be  replaced  so  frequently  now  that  the  employment 
of  gas  has  done  away  with  a  daily  cleaning.  Further,  he  lays 
stress  on  the  fact  that  masters  do  not  and  cannot  any  longer 
accumulate  stock,  since  taste  has  become  both  more  refined  and 
more  capricious. 

"  At  one  time,"  he  said,  "  you  would  have  found  a  hundred 
tons  of  stock  in  manufactories  where  you  will  not  find  one 
to-day.  Fashions  change  quickly,  and  articles  which  have  gone 
out  of  fashion  can  be  sold  only  at  a  great  loss.  This  does 
not  apply  to  our  trade  only  :  I  have  seen  electro-plated  articles 
which  have  gone  out  of  fashion  sold  for  a  tenth  of  cost 
price." 

Now,  without  accumulating  stock,  .it  is  difficult  to  have 
regular  work.  Labour  must  follow  day  by  day  the  fluctua- 
tions of  the  demand.  "When  orders  fall  off  the  employer 
reduces  his  staff,  and  the  fluctuations  of  trade  are  felt  in  all 
their  fulness  by  the  worker.  It  is  through  this  breach  in 
the  high  walls  erected  to  shelter  and  defend  a  trade  that 
external  influences  penetrate,  and  this  breach  it  is  impossible 
to  fill. 

Thus  this  close  corporation,  this  body  which  has  not  yet 
been  threatened  by  machinery,  which  is,  from  that  point  of 
view,  in  an  exceptional  and  privileged  position,  nevertheless 
fails  to  solve  the  given  problem  of  equilibrium.  It  is 
an  attempt  in  which  others  have  failed,  and  that  too  at 
periods  when  the  general  movement  of  transformation  which 
has  agitated  humanity  from  its  origin  onwards  was  proceeding 
with  infinitely  less  rapidity  than  it  does  to-day.  In  the  time 
of  Aristotle  and  Plato  men  were  preoccupied  with  the  attempt 
to  maintain  equilibrium  between  the  free  and  servile  populations 
in  the  Greek  cities,  by  what  means  and  with  what  ill  success 
we  know.1  In  our  days,  with  new  facilities  of  ascent,  with  the 

1  Aristotle,  Politics,  Bk.  vii.  ch.  xvi.  ;  Plato,  Republic,  Bk.  v. 


54  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  VART  i 

increasing  difficulty  of  maintaining  a  position  which  has  been 
gained,  with  a  constant  modification  of  tastes,  wants,  and  of 
the  composition  of  the  class  of  consumers,  it  is  an  exceedingly 
delicate  and  complex  task  to  produce  equilibrium  by  artificial 
means,  even  when  one  of  the  two  terms  remains  constant  and 
when  machinery  has  not  yet  triumphed  over  old  methods  of 
production,  but  has  allowed  the  worker  to  retain  his  character 
as  a  skilled  workman.1 

Here,  it  must  be  remarked,  the  enterprise  is  conducted  by 
particularly  prudent  and  intelligent  men,  very  well  acquainted 
with  the  commercial  as  well  as  the  technical  necessities  of  the 
trade. 

"  Believe  me,"  said  Mr.  Bloor,  "  if  any  circumstance  what- 
ever were  coming  to  develop  our  trade,  we  should  be  prompt 
to  perceive  it,  and  to  modify  the  severe  rules  we  have  framed, 
and  notably  to  allow  masters  a  greater  number  of  apprentices." 

I  quite  believe  it ;  it  is  precisely  because  the  glassmakers 
are  wide  awake  to  possible  modifications,  because  they  possess 
qualities  of  prudence  and  foresight,  that  they  succeed  in  main- 
taining an  artificial  state  of  things  with  the  relative  degree  of 
success  we  have  remarked.  They  are  men  who,  by  force  of 
personality,  would  be  completely  successful  in  a  more  reason- 
able undertaking.  The  proof  is  that  their  association  renders 
notable  and  certain  services  at  all  points  where  it  does  not 
endeavour  to  thwart  the  evolution  of  industry. 

For  instance,  it  assures  normal  and  pacific  relations  between 
employers  and  employed.  Whenever  a  difficulty  arises,  a  joint 
committee  of  masters  and  men  consider  it  and  arrive  at  a 

1  The  same  difficulties  arise  in  the  United  States,  where  the  glass  industry  is 
organised  in  the  same  way.  In  January  1894  the  window-glassmakers  of  Pitts- 
burg  paid  £10,000  to  a  master  glassmaker  who  was  on  the  point  of  closing  his 
works.  As  soon  as  we  wish  to  assure  the  regular  employment  of  glassmakers  in 
their  own  line  without  reference  to  the  wants  of  consumers,  there  are  no  com- 
plications and  sacrifices  to  which  they  are  not  exposed.  Workmen  paying  an 
employer  to  enable  him  to  keep  on  his  business  during  a  period  of  depression  is 
an  unusual  sight.  It  is  also,  we  may  note  in  passing,  a  definite  piece  of  evidence 
against  the  application  of  the  co-operative  system  to  this  trade.  This  Pittsburg 
Union,  which  paid  £10,000  to  the  employer,  might  equally  well  have  bought 
and  carried  on  the  business.  If  this  experiment  was  not  tried,  it  was  because  they 
did  not  believe  in  the  efficacy  of  such  a  plan,  and  took  into  account  the  advan- 
tages of  a  personal  and  independent  management.  See  La  R&forme  Sociale, 
1st  September  1894  :  "  Les  Syndicats  Ouvriers  aux  Etats-Unis,"  by  M.  Finance, 
p.  278. 


CHAP,  ii  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  55 

solution.  This  committee  is  not  a  legal  arbitration  board,  but 
it  renders  the  same  services.  There  is  no  arrangement  before- 
hand between  the  association  of  employers  and  the  Union  that 
every  dispute  shall  be  settled  by  arbitration,  but  when  the 
dispute  does  arise  the  masters'  representatives  and  the  men's 
meet  and  arrange  the  matter.  Eh'  Bloor  has  often  taken  part 
in  these  delegacies,  and  painted  for  me  very  forcibly,  in  a  few 
words,  the  spirit  which  animates  them.  "  Once  together,  we 
say  to  ourselves,  '  Well,  the  matter  is  in  our  hands,  we  must 
settle  it  before  we  separate ' ;  and  whatever  the  difficulty  is 
we  settle  it  in  a  practical  way." 

After  this,  it  is  not  astonishing  that  the  masters  are  able 
to  bear  testimony  that  the  men's  Union  has  been  advantageous 
to  their  own  interests.  It  is  obviously  to  a  master's  interest 
that  his  staff  should  be  a  staff  of  capable  men.  Eli  Bloor  told 
me  that  in  1884  he  prevented  a  strike  which  was  all  but 
declared  by  speaking  for  an  hour  and  a  half  at  a  mass  meeting 
of  the  men.  However  good  his  reasons  may  have  been,  such 
a  result  can  only  be  attained  with  an  audience  of  intelligent 
men. 

Further,  we  are  dealing,  I  repeat,  with  picked  workmen 
All  have  reached  a  certain  level  of  professional  skill ;  they  are 
not  chance  comers,  they  form  an  aristocracy.  Like  all  aristo- 
cracies, they  have  a  desire,  unintelligent  it  may  be,  for  exclusive- 
ness,  and  like  all  real  aristocracies  they  do  form  an  dite. 

Eli  Bloor  is  an  admirable  representative  of  this  aristocracy 
of  labour.  He  has  managed,  not  merely  within  the  somewhat 
narrow  limits  of  his  trade,  but  among  his  fellow-townsmen,  to 
achieve  a  position  of  the  highest  esteem,  of  which  the  strongest 
proof  is  his  popular  title  of  "  Honest  Eli."  He  has  a  direct 
influence  on  labour  questions  through  the  organisation  which 
he  has  introduced  among  the  Birmingham  gas-workers.  These 
men  used  to  work  twelve  hours  a  day  for  5s. ;  now,  through 
the  agency  of  their  Union,  they  have  succeeded  in  obtaining 
much  better  conditions.  They  now  receive  5s.  3d.  daily  wage, 
and  work  eight  hours  instead  of  twelve,  and  they  also  get  a 
week's  holiday  every  year. 

"  Since  these  modifications  were  introduced,"  said  Mr. 
Bloor,  "  they  have  risen  considerably  socially,  and  employ 
their  leisure  in  an  intelligent  and  useful  manner.  A  great 


56  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

many  of  them  who  never  attended  any  service  before  are  now 
church-goers;  they  discuss  their  interests  in  a  much  more 
enlightened  fashion ;  they  follow  the  meetings  better,  etc." 

In  the  eyes  of  Eli  Bloor,  then,  it  is  not  merely  a  question 
of  obtaining  better  material  conditions  for  the  workers,  such  as 
higher  wages  for  less  work,  but  also  of  teaching  them  to  utilise 
the  leisure  procured  by  better  material  conditions.  Really 
it  is  a  question  of  raising  them,  and  the  amelioration  of  the 
daily  toil  is  but  one  mode  of  allowing  the  elevating  influences 
to  act.  A  man  who  devotes  twelve  hours  of  his  day  to  hard 
physical  work  can  do  little  with  the  rest  but  eat,  sleep,  go  to 
work,  and  come  back  from  it.  Further,  he  is  often  stupefied 
by  the  monotony  of  his  occupation,  fatigued  by  the  exertion  it 
requires,  and  consequently  incapable  of  thought  and  without 
the  power  of  making  proper  use  of  his  mental  powers.  Hence 
the  need  for  securing  him  some  leisure  to  allow  his  mental 
faculties  freer  play.  When  this  result  is  acquired  direct 
means  can  be  employed.  "  Every  Sunday,"  said  Mr.  Bloor,  "  I 
speak  in  some  church,  or  hall  belonging  to  a  church,  on  the 
raising  of  the  workers."  He  does  more  than  speak ;  he  himself 
sets  the  example  of  a  working  man  who  has  raised  himself. 
He  is  passionately  devoted  to  athletic  sports,  which  make  the 
body  vigorous,  and,  at  the  same  time,  he  cultivates  his  intelli- 
gence and  enlightens  his  reasoning  powers  by  serious  reading. 
Among  the  small  library  which  occupied  a  corner  of  the  room 
in  which  he  received  me,  I  noticed  four  or  five  large  volumes 
of  commentaries  on  the  Scriptures,  a  proof  that  he  is  eager  in 
his  search  for  moral  guidance.  The  dignity  of  magistrate, 
which  has  recently  been  conferred  on  him,  gives  a  sort  of 
consecration  to  his  position,  and  the  honour  extends  to  all  his 
fellow-workers,  and  gives  a  new  strength  and  efficacy  to  his 
example.  Consequently  it  is  a  matter  for  regret  that  the  trade 
he  has  embraced  keeps  him  behind  the  times  in  his  conception 
of  the  organisation  of  labour,  and  commits  him  to  a  conception 
so  wanting  in  vigour  as  that  of  the  close  corporation.  One 
would  like  to  see  men  of  his  stamp  thrown  into  the  centre  of 
the  modern  arena,  where  their  qualities  would  find  new  sources 
of  nourishment  and  exceptional  opportunities  of  development, 
instead  of  being  oppressed  by  the  conditions  of  a  trade  where 
the  industrial  evolution  is  not  yet  in  progress. 


CHAP,  ii  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  57 

The  Cutlers. — The  Sheffield  cutlers,  whose  Union  had  at 
one  time  a  sinister  notoriety,  inasmuch  as  it  did  not  hesitate 
to  have  recourse  to  crime  to  uphold  its  discipline,1  are  also 
highly  skilled  workmen.  To-day,  although  the  Sheffield  work- 
men no  longer  employ  similar  means,  they  still  live  under  the 
system  of  a  close  corporation,  and  there,  as  among  the  glass- 
workers,  it  is  thanks  to  the  survival  of  old  methods  of  work 
that  it  has  been  possible  to  preserve  this  system. 

Even  in  the  large  cutlery  houses  of  European  reputation — 
in  Eodgers  and  Sons,  for  example,  where  seven  hundred  men 
are  employed — the  workshops  in  no  way  resemble  factories.  In 
a  series  of  low  buildings,  adjacent  to  each  other,  I  saw  men  in 
groups  of  two  beside  a  small  forge.  Each  drew  from  the 
glowing  coals  a  white-hot  bar  of  steel,  destined  to  be  converted 
under  their  skilful  hands  into  knife,  razor,  or  scissor  blade. 
Two  tiny  anvils  stood  on  each  side  of  the  forge,  and  the  work 
was  done  entirely  by  hand.  It  was  done  in  the  same  way  a 
century  ago :  the  process  has  not  been  modified.  Farther  off 
other  workmen  prepared  and  polished  the  ivory  intended  for 
making  knife  handles.  These  are  also  skilled  workmen,  who 
require  nicety  of  eye  and  care ;  they  use  mechanical  power  for 
polishing,  but  not  a  machine  tool  which  transforms  the  raw 
material  blindly :  the  motor  economises  their  strength,  but  it 
is  they  who  direct  it.  It  is  the  same  with  the  men  engaged 
in  grinding  and  polishing  the  blades ;  in  short,  in  all  the 
branches  the  work  is  executed  by  simple  means,  and  its  skill 
depends  on  the  dexterity  of  the  workman. 

Thus,  in  the  midst  of  the  industrial  evolution  which  has 
given  this  century  its  distinctive  character,  we  find  a  trade 
which  has  preserved  the  old  methods  of  labour,  and  conse- 
quently there  is  nothing  astonishing  if  the  old  organisation  of 
the  body  of  workers  has  also  survived,  and  if  the  trade  has 
succeeded  in  remaining  a  close  trade. 

Nevertheless,  it  has  already  experienced  some  rude  shocks, 
and  felt  the  effect  of  new  conditions,  against  which  it  has  en- 
deavoured to  protect  itself  by  artificially  increasing  the  checks 

1  The  history  of  these  crimes  may  be  read  in  the  work  of  M.  le  Comte  de 
Paris,  Les  Associations  Ouvrteres  en  Aiigleterre.  The  Union  was  organised  about 
1868  as  a  sort  of  secret  tribunal,  and  ordered  the  assassination  of  members  who 
infringed  its  rules. 


58  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

imposed  on  its  members.  For  if  the  methods  of  production 
are  still  at  the  same  point,  the  demand  has  undergone  con- 
siderable modifications  since  the  beginning  of  the  century.  It 
is  no  longer  merely  English  as  formerly,  nor  merely  European, 
but  universal,  thanks  to  the  extraordinary  expansion  of  the 
English  race  in  both  hemispheres.  It  is  to  this  that 
the  great  Sheffield  firms — Rodgers,  Mappin  and  Webb,  etc. 
— have  owed  their  development.  With  this  extension  of 
their  market,  which  was  to  a  certain  extent  a  sudden  one, 
brought  about  by  the  transformation  in  the  system  of 
transport,  the  masters  were  naturally  tempted  to  increase  the 
number  of  men  and  to  take  apprentices  in  large  numbers,  but 
they  encountered  a  lively  opposition  from  their  men,  who 
wished  to  reserve  for  themselves  the  advantages  of  their  special 
skill.  Every  new  apprentice  is  one  more  competitor  in  the 
future.  The  opposition  was  sufficiently  powerful  to  bring 
about  a  strict  limitation  of  the  number  of  apprentices.  Only 
the  sons  of  working  cutlers  are  eligible  as  apprentices,  and 
any  master  who  infringed  this  arrangement  would  find  himself 
boycotted  and  his  works  empty. 

Such  rules  can  only  be  enforced  by  strict  discipline — a 
thing  difficult  enough  to  maintain  even  where  men  are 
grouped  in  large  factories,  and  infinitely  more  so  when,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  cutlers,  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  trade 
membership  is  dispersed  in  small  workshops.  Hardly  half  the 
total  number  of  Sheffield  cutlers  are  employed  by  large  firms 
like  Rodgers's  ;  the  others  work  at  home  for  dealers  who  supply 
them  with  the  raw  material,  or  are  organised  in  groups  of  five 
or  six  under  the  direction  of  a  small  employer.  Under  these 
conditions,  the  observation  of  rules  as  to  apprenticeship  requires 
minute  surveillance,  and  it  is  easy  to  see  that  a  cottage  worker 
or  a  very  modest  establishment  might  evade  it.  Of  course, 
too,  the  rule  is  binding  only  on  members  of  the  Union,  and 
how  can  men  be  forced  to  join  the  Union.  It  is  done,  how- 
ever, and  probably  the  difficulty  of  the  task  explains  the 
criminal  methods  of  intimidation  pursued  towards  non-unionist 
men  between  1850  and  1867,  in  order  to  prevent  the  old 
methods  from  being  broken  down  by  the  extension  of  the 
clientele.  In  large  works  the  unionist  men  often  force  the 
hand  of  non-unionists,  by  refusing  to  work  with  them  and 


CHAP,  ii  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  59 

boycotting  the  firms  which  employ  them,  and  these  negative 
means  are  usually  enough.  On  the  other  hand,  nothing  is 
easier,  with  a  series  of  small  workshops,  than  to  get  together 
five  or  six  non-unionists  to  form  an  independent  group.  The 
union  men  have  had  recourse  to  direct  means  to  prevent  this. 
This  is  probably  the  explanation — though  by  no  means  a 
justification — of  the  culpable  acts  of  violence  which  have  left 
a  blot  from  the  beginning  on  the  Sheffield  Unions. 

To  understand  the  case  aright,  however,  it  should  be 
remarked  that  this  violent  pressure  could  only  be  exercised 
subject  to  two  conditions :  first,  the  highly-skilled  nature  of 
the  work,  which  makes  the  cutler  practically  a  monopolist ; 
and  secondly,  what  we  must  now  consider,  the  practical 
monopoly  of  the  trade  possessed  by  the  town  of  Sheffield. 

It  would  not  have  been  enough,  if  the  Sheffield  men  had 
been  suffiently  homogeneous  to  prevent  traitors  from  slipping 
in,  if  a  rival  industry  could  have  been  established  elsewhere 
with  other  elements.  Such  an  undertaking,  however,  presented 
great  difficulties.  The  Sheffield  masters  have  long  been  in  the 
habit  of  buying  up,  in  advance,  in  Scandinavia,  and  especially 
at  Dannemora,  the  finest  steel  procurable  for  the  manufacture 
of  cutting  tools,  and  owing  to  the  proximity  of  Hull,  the 
nearest  port  to  Sweden,  to  the  presence  of  abundant  coal  in 
the  neighbourhood,  and  to  the  quality  of  the  water  used  for 
tempering,  Sheffield  occupies  the  most  favourable  position  in 
England  for  working  up  the  Swedish  steel.  It  is  this  sum  of 
favourable  conditions  which  has  enabled  Sheffield  during  this 
century  to  oust  the  London  cutlery,  once  so  famous.  To-day 
London  is  only  the  market  for  Sheffield  knives,  and  its  cutlers 
are  little  more  than  dealers  and  knife-mounters.1 

Thus  things  have  conspired  to  place  the  Sheffield  cutlers 
in  an  exceptional  position,  and  to  enable  them  to  escape  the 
direct  effects  of  the  industrial  evolution.  Their  corporate 
organisation  is  a  type  belonging  to  the  past,  and  to  regard 
prohibitive  measures  such  as  they  have  enacted  as  a  solution 
of  the  future  is  to  turn  their  backs  upon  progress.  Moreover, 
the  social  transformations  brought  about  around  them  throw 
into  strong  relief  the  contrast  between  their  static  occupation 

1  As  long  ago  as  1851  Le  Play  noted  this  fact.     See  Ouvriers  europiens,  vol.  iii. 
oh.  vi.  p.  274. 


60  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

and  the  industries  where  machine  power  is  employed.  Thirty 
years  ago  Sheffield  was  almost  entirely  a  town  of  artisans — 
skilled  workers  proud  of  their  address.  Except  the  works  of 
Messrs.  Jessop,  founded  about  1793,  there  was  no  industrial 
establishment  of  any  size.  Since  then  the  great  foundries  and 
steel  works  of  John  Brown  and  Camel  have  profoundly 
modified  the  general  physiognomy  of  the  artisan  population. 
They  have  caused  a  considerable  influx  of  unskilled  labourers, 
many  of  whom  come  from  Ireland,  driven  out  by  famine,  and 
contented  to  work  for  relatively  low  wages.  To-day  there  is 
a  very  appreciable  distance  between  the  high-class  workman 
earning  nearly  £2  a  week  and  the  unskilled  labourer  earning 
30s.,  but  the  difference  in  wages  is  far  from  measuring  the  far 
more  marked  difference  of  social  habit.  The  artisan  generally 
attains  a  much  higher  degree  of  intelligence  and  respectability  ; 
the  labourer  is  obtuse,  given  to  drink,  and  destitute  of 
foresight. 

It  would  seem,  then,  at  the  outset,  that  the  cutler  of  the 
old  type  possesses  more  power  of  resistance  than  the  modern 
type  of  factory  hand,  or  at  least  of  such  as  have  no  special 
technical  qualifications.  Nevertheless,  while  the  moral  and 
social  amelioration  of  the  unskilled  labourer  is  progressing, 
while  his  sons,  reared  in  a  milieu  of  great  activity,  better 
educated,  and  impressed  by  the  example  of  rising  men,  are 
able  to  lay  the  lesson  to  heart  and  enter  the  arena  with  some 
chance  of  success,  the  children  of  the  cutlers,  relying  on  a 
trade  whose  whole  stay  is  the  unvarying  mode  of  production, 
are  not  so  well  armed  for  the  struggle,  and  would  undoubtedly 
go  to  the  wall  if  their  trade  were  some  day  revolutionised  by 
the  introduction  of  machinery. 

I  have  said  that  the  Sheffield  cutlers  are  exploiting  a 
monopoly.  Consequently  they  come  into  the  category  of  a 
privileged  class.  Now,  although  privileged  classes  are  often 
composed  of  individuals  raised  above  the  common  from  some 
points  of  view,  they  are  nevertheless  as  a  rule  less  energetic, 
and  energetic  to  less  purpose  when  a  sudden  event  destroys 
their  privileges  and  brings  them  face  to  face  with  the  practical 
necessities  of  life.  Compare  the  way  in  which  Joseph  Brown 
has  been  able  to  settle  his  family,  the  varied  means  to  whicli 
under  his  inspiration  his  children  have  recourse  to  employ  their 


CHAP,  n  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  61 

activity,  and  the  sheep-like  way  in  which  a  cutler  pushes  his 
children  into  his  own  trade.  On  the  one  side  there  must  be 
initiative,  and  not  infrequently  fruitless  and  multiplied  essays ; 
on  the  other  side  it  is  sufficient  to  keep  in  one  old  groove.  A 
man  becomes  a  cutler  because  of  the  circumstances  of  his  birth. 
Once  enrolled,  he  rises  by  thrift  and  by  clinging  to  hurtful 
traditions,  without  being  obliged  to  look  either  to  right  or  left ; 
he  goes  on  between  two  parallel  barriers  which  prevent  him  from 
rising  in  the  world  by  any  short  cut.  Le  Play,  in  his  monograph 
on  the  Sheffield  cutler,  whom  he  observed  in  1851,  pointed  out 
that  the  working  cutler  gradually  attained  the  position  of 
employer  by  saving  the  capital  needful  for  the  purchase  of  raw 
material,  and  by  taking  an  apprentice,  on  whose  labour  he  made 
about  6s.  a  week.1  Thus,  it  will  be  seen,  only  simple  processes 
are  involved,  requiring  nothing  but  prudence  and  a  sense  of 
order.  The  master  appropriates  part  of  the  apprentice's  labour, 
a  legal  larceny  sanctioned  by  the  rules  of  the  Union.  Nothing 
else  is  needed  in  order  to  become  a  manufacturer,  and  hence 
the  multiplicity  of  these  small  concerns,  comprising  half  the 
cutlers  of  Sheffield.  Imagine  these  easy-going  small  employers 
flung  into  the  thick  of  modern  competition,  outside  the  barriers 
behind  which  they  have  thriven  hitherto,  deprived  of  the 
sources  of  profit  from  methods  of  doubtful  justifiability,  and 
see  how  insufficient  would  become  these  so-called  captains  of 
industry,  and  how  quickly  the  majority  would  sink  to  the  level 
of  mere  artisans.  They  are  at  the  mercy  of  an  invention,  and 
that  in  a  century  where  it  is  no  longer  possible  to  keep  count 
of  inventions. 

The  glassworkers  and  cutlers  offer  us  excellent  types  of 
the  close  trades  representing  the  ancient  state  of  industry. 
They  are  witnesses,  so  to  speak,  to  a  bygone  age,  lost  and 
bewildered  in  our  own,  but  it  is  useful  to  have  some  idea  of 
their  organisation  in  order  to  obtain  a  better  understanding  of 
the  evolution  undergone  by  all  trades  in  their  material  con- 
ditions, and  the  consequent  reaction  on  the  social  position  of 
those  employed  in  such  trades. 

Two  conclusions  result  from  this  study :  first,  that  the  old 
trade  organisation  for  resistance,  when  backed  up  only  by  a 
specialism,  must  disappear  along  with  these  various  specialisms, 
1  Le  Play,  Les  Ouvriers  europ&ns,  vol.  iii.  p.  333. 


62  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

one  or  other  of  which  is  constantly  disappearing ;  and  secondly, 
that  this  old  type  of  organisation  has  a  disastrous  effect  in 
keeping  the  mind  closed,  that  it  produces  a  retrograde  tendency 
among  those  who  uphold  it,  and  that  it  bars  the  future  for 
them  from  a  technical  point  of  view,  by  setting  them  against 
all  material  progress  in  methods  of  production,  and  from  a 
social  point  of  view,  by  leading  them  to  set  their  children's  faces 
in  a  wrong  direction — towards  the  past  instead  of  towards 
the  future.  This  is,  in  fact,  one  of  the  greatest  disadvantages 
of  the  system,  that  it  has  this  injurious  effect  on  the  education 
of  young  men.  Their  development  tends  to  take  an  entirely 
wrong  direction,  and  they  are  predisposed  to  the  most 
dangerous  of  illusions — that  belief  in  the  stability  of  falling 
institutions  which  blinds  men  to  the  signs  of  approaching  ruin 
— and  thus  their  strength  is  likely  to  be  spent  in  endeavouring 
to  sustain  organisms  without  life.  The  subsequent  progress  of 
our  inquiry  will  show  us  the  sons  of  such  privileged  workers 
overtaken  in  a  belated  attempt  to  defend  a  hopeless  position. 

We  have  now  to  look  at  the  fruitless  struggle  carried  on 
by  trades  where  the  old  modes  of  production  have  been 
assailed,  but  which  nevertheless  persist  in  clinging  to  a 
constitution  appropriate  to  these  old  methods,  but  no  longer 
normal  under  the  new  methods.  This  is  the  second  phase  of 
industrial  evolution. 


II.   The  Menaced  Trades. 

Here  we  still  find  ourselves  concerned  with  strong  Unions. 
If  their  success  is  less  than  that  of  the  Glass  Makers'  and 
Cutlers'  Unions,  it  is  not  because  their  discipline  is  defective, 
but  because  their  special  province  has  been  invaded  by  the 
industrial  evolution.  They  defend  themselves,  in  fact,  with 
the  energy  of  despair,  multiplying  rules  and  prohibitions,  and 
having  recourse  to  agitation  whenever  they  think  it  likely  to 
be  useful.  They  are  headed  by  energetic  men,  well  informed 
as  to  the  state  of  things  in  the  trade,  workmen  themselves,  and 
generally  picked  workmen.  Nevertheless  some,  once  powerful, 
find  themselves  obliged  to  renounce  their  former  pretensions ; 
while  others,  threatened  by  new  and  unsuspected  enemies, 
stretch  pleading  hands  towards  the  State,  begging  for  protective 


CHAP,  ii  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  63 

legislation,  and  avowing  openly  that  they  have  not  the  power 
to  enforce  their  rules. 

Typographers. — Among  the  trades  which  have  been  obliged 
to  open  their  doors  one  of  the  most  interesting  is  the  printers. 
My  observations  were  made  at  Edinburgh,  and  concerned  the 
members  of  the  Edinburgh  Typographical  Society,  which  is 
itself  affiliated  to  the  Scottish  Typographical  Association. 

Edinburgh  furnished  me  with  an  excellent  type  for  the 
study  of  typography.  This  city  was  long  considered  the 
intellectual  capital  of  the  United  Kingdom,  and  even  to-day, 
notwithstanding  the  fascination  London  exercises  upon  Scotch 
publishers  and  the  fact  that  many  of  them  have  founded 
branches  there,  and  in  spite  of  the  great  development  of  the 
book  trade  in  the  English  metropolis,  this  industry  is  still 
splendidly  represented  in  the  Scottish  capital.  In  Princes 
Street  we  see  at  every  turn  windows  filled  with  books  of  every 
kind,  and  it  is  delightful  to  linger  and  look  at  the  titles, 
admire  the  bindings,  and  form  projects  for  a  library.  If  you 
go  inside  to  buy  a  shilling  book,  or  even  with  no  better  excuse 
than  curiosity,  you  are  always  courteously  received,  and  the 
assistant  hastens  to  supply  you  with  information  about  the  best 
edition  of  Scott,  or  the  best  life  of  Livingstone,  or  on  any  other 
bibliographical  subject.  There  is  none  of  the  rush  which  is  so 
striking  in  a  London  publisher's  shop.  In  Edinburgh  the 
assistant  is  willing  to  chat  with  a  customer,  in  London  he  sells 
books.  The  reason  is  that  in  Edinburgh  the  lettered  public  is 
relatively  more  numerous,  and  the  interest  in  intellectual 
matters  more  general,  and  less  a  matter  of  business.  Thus,  in 
studying  the  working  printer  in  Edinburgh,  we  are,  so  to  speak, 
in  the  native  land  of  the  English  book. 

Perhaps  this  has  tended  somewhat  to  mislead  the  Scottish 
printers.  At  any  rate,  their  Union,  the  Scottish  Typographical 
Association,  is  organised  on  the  lines  of  a  close  body,  and  the 
recent  checks  it  has  experienced  would  seem  to  show  they  have 
over-estimated  their  strength. 

The  efforts  of  the  Union  have  been  concerned  chiefly  witli 
the  length  of  apprenticeship  and  the  number  of  apprentices. 
An  attempt  was  made  to  resist  free  recruiting,  in  order  to  lessen 
the  competition  resulting  from  an  abundance  of  labour,  and 
to  prevent  wages  from  falling.  Consequently,  every  compositor 


64  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

must  buy  the  right  to  work  by  a  seven  years'  apprenticeship, 
although  no  such  time  is  required  to  learn  the  technique  of 
the  trade.  I  was  told  by  the  foreman  of  a  printing  office  that 
a  man  is  often  as  good  a  workman  at  the  end  of  two  years, 
and  always  at  the  end  of  five  years,  as  after  seven  years  of 
apprenticeship,  but  the  Union  is  firm  about  the  point.  The 
apprentice,  it  must  be  observed,  is  paid  at  only  half  the  rate 
for  identical  work.  This  usage  is  perhaps  justifiable  enough 
while  the  real  apprenticeship  lasts,  that  is  to  say,  while  the 
master  has  to  teach  the  apprentice  a  trade  of  which  he  is 
ignorant,  and  while  the  diminution  in  wages  is  set  off  against 
a  service  rendered,  which  service  has  been  shown  by  experi- 
ence to  be  worth  that  amount.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  if  the 
apprentice  is  such  in  name  only,  and  has  long  possessed  the 
qualification  of  a  full  workman,  nothing  is  more  unjust.  It 
is  a  workman's  association,  too,  which  imposes  this  injustice, 
and  which  profits  by  it,  since  the  employer,  thanks  to  what 
he  makes  on  the  apprentice's  work,  can  afford  to  pay  the 
full  workman  at  a  higher  rate,  and  thus  in  the  long  run  the 
workman  gains  upon  a  capable  apprentice.  I  am  glad  to  point 
out  this  anomaly,  which  is  not  without  parallels  in  other  trades, 
for  these  artificial  regulations  invariably  result,  at  one  point  or 
another,  in  a  veritable  tyranny.1 

The  Scottish  Typographical  Association  has  hard  work  to 
maintain  the  rule  of  seven  years'  apprenticeship,  because  the 
apprentice  in  Scotland  is  not  bound  to  his  master  by  a  contract 
as  in  England.  If  the  apprentice  leaves,  his  master  has  no 
right  to  claim  him,  and  can  on  his  side,  if  he  thinks  fit, 
dismiss  an  apprentice.  The  Union,  however,  is  on  the  watch 
for  apprentices  who  have  not  served  seven  years  under  the 
same  master,  and  if  an  apprentice  were  arbitrarily  dismissed 
there  would  be  a  protest,  which  might  be  followed  by  a 
strike,  and  the  employer  in  question  would  be  boycotted. 
It  is  thus  the  Union,  and  the  Union  only,  which  secures 
the  observance  of  its  regulations  as  to  the  duration  of 
apprenticeship. 

With  regard  to  the  number  of  apprentices,  I  do  not  know 
of  any  general  rule,  but  in  many  offices  the  master  makes  a 
special  agreement  with  the  Union  and  engages  not  to  have 

1  See  Le  Play,  Les  Ouvriers  europ&ns,  vol.  iii.  p.  333. 


CHAP,  ii  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  65 

more  than  a  certain  proportion,  determined  by  the  number  of 
his  men.  In  the  Fifty-seventh  Eeport  of  the  Scottish  Typo- 
graphical Association  for  1892,  there  is  an  account  of  a  strike 
at  Glasgow  in  the  printing-office  of  MacLehose,  because  twelve 
apprentices  were  employed,  while  an  agreement  made  with  the 
Union  in  1879  allowed  only  ten.1  In  a  settlement  proposed 
by  the  Scottish  Leader  to  the  Union,  the  master  was  to  fix  the 
number  of  apprentices  at  one  for  himself  and  one  for  every 
three  men.2  Similar  arrangements  are  frequently  made. 

Thus  the  Scottish  Typographical  Association  needs  to  keep 
a  strict  watch  on  its  members  and  their  employers.  To 
facilitate  the  task  it  has  organised  a  system  of  grouping  and 
a  hierarchy.  In  every  important  office  the  union  men  form  a 
"  chapel "  and  elect  a  "  father,"  who  is  the  link  between  the  men 
and  the  Association.  Any  facts  of  importance  to  the  central 
body  are  communicated  to  him,  and  it  is  he  who  is  responsible 
for  its  intervention.  In  return  he  enjoys  undisputed  authority, 
and  his  orders  must  be  obeyed  without  question. 

All  this  machinery  is  imposing,  and  suggests  a  powerful 
league.  Powerful  it  certainly  is,  since  a  large  number  of  men 
treat  with  it,  but  my  conversation  with  the  foreman  I 
mentioned  led  me  to  think  that  one  might  nevertheless 
manage  to  live  outside  it.  In  his  office  the  members  do  not 
form  a  " chapel"  nor  elect  a  " father";  there  are  not  enough  of 
them,  only  about  a  dozen.  Consequently  the  discipline  is  less 
strict,  and  a  "  blackleg "  is  tolerated.  These  small  printing 
offices  are  numerous.  This  one  is  connected  with  a  stationery 
and  book-binding  business,  employing  two  hundred  and  fifty 
persons.  I  visited  several  establishments  of  the  same  kind. 
There  are  more  of  them  than  are  required  for  the  local  and 
national  custom,  for  I  was  shown  ledgers,  etc.,  ordered  for 
Cape  Colony,  Canada,  Chili,  Peru,  India,  and  Australia.  There 
is  thus  a  large  number  of  offices  where  a  non-unionist 
man  may  easily  find  shelter  and  laugh  at  the  rules  of  the 
Association.  Sheltered  from  its  thunderbolts,  he  can  turn 
out  bill-heads,  visiting  cards,  commercial  circulars,  counter- 
foils, etc. 

1  Fifty-seventh  Report  of  the  Scottish  Typographical  Association,  for  the  year 
ending  December  1892,  pp.  11-13. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  6. 

F 


66  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

Further,  the  Edinburgh  newspapers  and  many  other 
Scottish  newspapers  will  not  employ  members  of  the  Associa- 
tion. This  huge  class,  which  is  always  increasing,  and  where 
cessation  of  work  is  unknown,  can  get  on  without  union  men. 
This  clearly  shows  how  exaggerated  are  the  pretensions  just 
considered.  In  vain  is  it  that  at  the  end  of  its  annual  report 
the  Scottish  Typographical  Association  publishes  and  holds  up 
to  public  execration  the  list  of  "  rats." l  To  read  this  list  is  to 
see  that  the  traitors  are  moderately  numerous.  Nine  men 
were  boycotted  in  a  body  for  remaining  on  the  Glasgow  Citizen 
after  ten  union  men  had  been  dismissed.  Ten  others  were 
expelled  for  returning  to  or  remaining  in  the  office  of  the 
Aberdeen  University  Press.  Obviously,  therefore,  a  large 
section  of  employers  will  not  yield  to  the  demands  of  the 
Union. 

What  is  the  cause  of  this  sudden  resistance  on  the  part 
of  the  newspapers  in  particular,  to  an  organisation  of  such 
long  standing — the  report  for  1892  is  the  fifty-seventh — 
whose  rules  have  been  law  for  more  than  half  a  century  in  all 
offices  important  enough  to  organise  a  "  chapel "  ? 

The  answer  is  that  a  modification  has  recently  been 
introduced  into  the  compositor's  task.  Machinery  has  been 
introduced  by  the  invention  of  the  linotype,  and  this  has 
deprived  the  Association  of  part  of  its  force. 

The  linotype  is  a  mechanical  composing  machine,  which 
sets  a  line  of  type  solid,  and  casts  what  it  has  composed,  and 
which  sets  about  4000  letters  an  hour.  Very  few  compositors 
manage  to  do  this  by  hand,  and  consequently  its  employment 
is  a  menace  to  the  trade,  and  there  have  been  numerous 
discussions  on  the  subject  between  the  Association  and  the 
masters.  The  lock-out  of  union  men  on  the  Glasgow  Citizen 
was  on  the  question  of  the  linotype.2  In  the  settlement 
proposed  by  the  Scottish  Leader,  and  refused  by  the  Union,  it 
was  specified  that  the  men  should  offer  no  objection  to  the 
employment  of  the  linotype,  nor  to  the  salary  of  the  operator 
in  charge  of  it.  Mr.  T.  Carlaw  Martin,  the  proprietor  of 

1  See  p.  154.  In  the  United  States  the  Typographical  Union  has  enacted 
similar  rules.  Lists  of  "  rats  "  and  "  scabs  "  are  published.  See  La  Reform*  Sociale, 
September  1894 :  "  Les  Syndicats  Ouvriers  aux  Etats-Unis,"  by  M.  Finance,  p.  282. 

1  See  Report  already  quoted,  pp.  18-22. 


CHAP,  ii  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  67 

that  paper,  would  not  promise  more  than  that  a  man  employed 
at  the  linotype  should  be  paid  as  highly  as  a  compositor 
working  by  the  hour,  at  the  Union  rate.  He  also  pointed 
out  that  only  compositors  or  apprentice  compositors  were  put 
at  the  linotype,  so  that  no  blow  was  dealt  at  the  workman's 
skill.  But  he  required  that  he  should  have  the  right  to  an 
apprentice  for  every  linotype,  or,  in  other  words,  that  each 
machine  should  count  as  three  compositors.  He  gave  as  his 
reason  the  necessity  for  ensuring  the  service  of  his  linotypes, 
and  having  capable  substitutes  ready  to  hand  in  case  of  need. 
Here  the  Union  was  aware  of  a  serious  blow.  Not  only  would 
the  linotype  work  faster  than  an  ordinary  compositor,  but  it 
would  furnish  an  occasion  for  a  master  to  triple  the  number 
of  his  apprentices  at  will.  This  would  have  been  equivalent 
to  throwing  down  the  trade  restrictions  hitherto  maintained, 
and  Mr.  Martin's  proposals  were  rejected.1 

This  story  of  the  linotype  is  full  of  interest.  It  is  a  timid, 
restricted,  very  imperfect  attempt,  it  is  rather  an  improved 
tool  than  a  real  machine,  and  nevertheless  it  was  enough  to 
strike  a  serious  blow  at  the  organisation  of  the  trade,  for  the 
artificial  regulations  of  even  a  powerful  association  are  at  the 
mercy  of  obstacles  as  slight  as  these. 

So  far  only  newspaper  compositors  seem  affected,  and  book 
compositors  still  impose  their  own  terms  on  publishers.  But 
will  it  last  ?  If  the  use  of  the  linotype  is  limited  at  present 
to  the  rapid  composition  of  newspapers,  it  is  because  it  does 
not  allow  of  author's  corrections,  and  the  vast  majority  of 
authors  send  in  badly  revised  manuscript,  leaving  themselves 
the  opportunity  of  making  alterations  in  proof.  This  luxury 
is  impossible  with  the  linotype,  which  casts  mechanically  all 
the  letters  in  the  same  line.  Editors  have  not  time  for 
touching  and  retouching,  their  copy  passes  at  once  to  the 
composing  room  and  thence  to  press.  They  accommodate  them- 
selves to  the  linotype  by  giving  their  manuscript  a  final 
revision  with  the  foreman  before  it  is  set  up.  Some  day,  if 
the  linotype  is  found  to  be  a  great  advantage,  we  may  see 
this  same  final  revision  required  of  authors.  At  the  present 
moment  thousands  of  newspapers  are  printed  in  this  way  both 
in  England  and  in  the  United  States,  which  seems  a  serious 
1  Report  quoted,  pp.  16,  17. 


68  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

argument  for  the  future  of  the  linotype.  No  doubt  Editions 
de  luxe  will  escape,  but  the  newspaper,  the  review,  the  cheap 
book  are  the  mass,  and  Editions  de  luxe  are  the  aristocracy.  It 
is  to  the  former  that  the  compositor  owes  his  occupation,  and 
it  is  through  them  that  the  trade  may  enter  upon  new 
developments. 

In  opposing  the  linotype  the  compositors  were  out  in  their 
calculations.  The  linotype,  like  every  machine  for  reducing 
manual  labour,  increases  the  demand.  More  printing  would 
be  required  if  the  cost  were  reduced.  Now  nothing  leads  to 
the  extension  of  a  trade  so  much  as  increased  demand,  and 
consequently  to  oppose  the  progress  of  machinery  is  to  com- 
promise the  future  of  a  trade,  and  to  act  against  the  interest 
of  the  mass  of  workers  for  the  sake  of  the  privileged  few  in 
possession.  Nay,  even  this  privileged  few  would  gain  by  the 
transformation  if  they  adapted  themselves  to  it,  instead  of 
trying  to  arrest  it.  To-day,  with  spinning  and  weaving  looms, 
far  more  textile  operatives  are  employed  than  in  the  days  of 
hand -looms  and  are  better  paid.  Everybody  gains,  for  the 
increased  demand  which  has  led  to  the  extension  of  the  trade 
really  means  that  more  people  are  able  to  obtain  linen,  clothes, 
carpets,  etc. 

Here  we  see  the  barriers  of  an  old  close  trade  falling 
before  a  new  invention.  We  shall  next  consider  trades  where 
the  skill  required  by  the  workman  was  formerly  a  sufficient 
protection,  and  which,  without  special  rules  and  entirely 
through  natural  conditions,  remained  in  the  hands  of  a  limited 
number  of  members.  Now,  in  the  face  of  inroads  upon 
them,  they  are  clamouring  for  legislative  protection.  In  the 
scale  of  threatened  trades  they  come  below  typographers,  for 
they  are  more  gravely  menaced,  and  their  special  skill  is  more 
in  danger. 

Plumbers. — It  was  in  the  course  of  an  evening  spent  at 
Toynbee  Hall,  and  through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Ernest  Aves, 
one  of  Mr.  Charles  Booth's  most  devoted  collaborators,  that  I 
was  enabled  to  form  an  exact  idea  of  the  means  by  which  the 
Union  of  London  Plumbers  would  oppose  the  transformation 
which  their  trade  is  undergoing.  Mr.  Aves  had  asked  two 
plumbers,  secretaries  of  their  Union,  to  be  kind  enough  to 
furnish  him  with  some  information  about  their  association  for 


CHAP,  ii  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  69 

an  inquiry  upon  which  he  was  engaged.  He  asked  me  whether 
I  would  like  to  be  present  at  the  interview,  and  as  I  naturally 
accepted  the  offer,  the  four  of  us  met  on  the  day  appointed. 

These  two  workmen  looked  well,  they  were  well  dressed, 
and  expressed  themselves  with  ease,  more  especially  one  of 
them,  a  tall,  powerful  young  fellow,  with  a  voice  which  should 
be  very  effective  at  a  meeting.  The  other  was  less  self- 
possessed,  more  reserved,  a  little  nervous  at  the  beginning,  but 
more  precise  in  his  statements,  more  attentive  to  the  questions 
put,  and  less  apt  to  lose  himself  in  irrelevant  digressions.  The 
first  man  had  not  been  introduced  to  me  two  minutes  before 
my  nationality  led  him  to  the  question  of  peasant  proprietors 
in  France,  and  of  land  nationalisation  in  England.  I  was 
growing  impatient  when  Mr.  Aves  interposed  and  called  the 
little  meeting  to  order.  Then  we  set  ourselves  seriously  to  our 
task,  on  the  one  side  asking,  and  on  the  other  answering, 
questions  as  to  matters  of  fact. 

"We  were  informed  that  there  are  3000  plumbers  in 
London,  but  that  there  is  not  work  for  so  many.  It  is  less 
easy  than  formerly  to  find  employment. 

"  Why  so  ?  Is  not  London  constantly  growing  ?  Do  not 
such  inventions  as  the  telephone  and  the  electric  light,  as  well 
as  the  ever-increasing  use  of  gas,  water,  and  steam  in  private 
houses,  continually  furnish  fresh  occasions  of  work  ? " 

"  Yes,  no  doubt  that  is  so,  but  what  we  gain  in  one  way 
we  lose  in  another,  and  more.  A  revolution  has  taken  place 
in  our  trade  during  the  last  fifteen  years ;  fittings,  of  which  we 
used  to  make  the  greater  part  ourselves,  are  now  turned  out  of 
the  factories  ready  for  fixing,  and  thus  a  great  deal  of  our  work 
is  taken  away  from  us.  The  branches  most  affected  are  the 
fittings  used  in  lavatories,  bath-rooms,  etc.  Machinery  cuts 
off  about  two-thirds  of  the  job.  To-day  I  can  do  in  a  month 
what  used  to  take  me  three  months  to  do,  when  we  made  the 
different  parts  of  our  fittings  by  hand." 

The  position  is  clear.  A  large  number  of  articles 
which  formerly  required  the  hand  of  a  skilful  workman  are 
now  turned  out  by  the  aid  of  machinery  in  great  quantities, 
and  at  a  low  price.  The  progress  thus  achieved  will  not  be 
abandoned,  and  the  advantage  is  the  greater  because  plumbers 
are  now  paid  higher  wages.  A  good  plumber,  we  were 


70  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

informed,  can  earn  £2  in  a  full  week  of  forty-seven  hours 
(five  days  of  eight  and  a  half  hours  and  one  day  of  four  hours 
and  a  half),  or  rather  more  than  lOd.  an  hour. 

But  the  full  week  is  the  privilege  of  only  a  few.  Too 
many  men  compete  for  the  work,  and  among  these  competitors 
there  are  many  who  do  not  really  belong  to  the  trade.  From 
the  day  that  the  factories  began  to  send  out  apparatus  ready 
for  fixing,  the  plumbers'  trade  became  far  less  of  a  skilled 
trade  and  far  easier,  and  was  suddenly  overrun.  "  In  olden 
times,"  said  Beeston,  one  of  the  two  plumbers  I  met,  "a 
plumber  used  to  be  a  plumber,  but  now  he  is  only  a  fixer." 
Consequently,  men  who  have  served  only  a  short  apprentice- 
ship can  do  plumbing  work.  Scotsmen  have  set  up  as 
plumbers  in  London,  to  the  great  scandal  of  the  London 
plumbers  who  have  been  in  the  trade  for  generations.  "  My 
father  was  a  plumber,"  said  Beeston,  "  and  so  was  my  grand- 
father, and  I  have  followed  honestly  in  their  steps.  And  now 
here  are  the  sons  of  Scottish  farmers  coming  to  compete 
with  me." 

The  most  serious  thing  is,  that  owing  to  the  simplification 
of  the  trade  plumbing  jobs  are  now  undertaken  by  men  who 
are  absolute  strangers  to  the  corporation.  If  the  working 
plumber  need  no  longer  be  a  plumber,  naturally  the  master 
plumber  will  dispense  with  technical  instruction  and  long 
apprenticeship,  and  will  be  a  business  man  and  not  a  practical 
workman.  "  There  are  only  three  houses  in  London,"  said 
Beeston,  "  managed  by  real  master  plumbers ;  all  the  others  are 
in  the  hands  of  sweaters."  This  statement  was  confirmed  by 
his  colleague. 

Thus  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  of  its  members  the 
trade  is  experiencing  a  crisis.  The  old  organisation  is  dis- 
appearing before  a  new  organisation  born  of  new  circumstances, 
and  here,  as  in  the  tool  trade,  machinery  is  destroying  the 
skilled  workman,  and  substituting  for  the  small  workshops 
the  regime  of  the  factory  and  of  centralised  enterprise. 
The  problem  confronting  the  London  plumbers  is  analogous 
to  that  which  our  old  friend,  Joseph  Brown  of  Birmingham, 
solved  after  his  own  fashion.  In  one  way  or  another  the 
trade  is  affected  and  threatens  to  disappear ;  only  in  the  tool 
trade  machinery  is  ruining  the  old  state  of  things  completely, 


CHAP,  ii  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  71 

while  in  the  plumbing  trade  the  necessity  for  employing  men 
to  fix  the  apparatus  sent  out  from  the  manufactory  has  left  a 
certain  semblance  of  the  old  trading  body.  This  semblance, 
which  Beeston  was  eager  to  denounce  to  me,  deceives  the 
workers  and  hides  from  them  the  radical  and  inevitable  trans- 
formation produced.  It  encourages  their  efforts  for  an  artificial 
organisation  of  defence,  and  makes  them  forget  that  the  trade 
as  they  have  known  it  and  practised  it  is  dead,  and  that 
neither  their  sagacity  nor  their  good  intentions  can  succeed  in 
resuscitating  a  corpse. 

Such,  however,  is  the  impossible  aim  which  the  United 
Operative  Plumbers'  Association  has  in  view.  The  evil  against 
which  its  efforts  are  directed  is  the  excess  of  workers,  and  it  is 
endeavouring  to  remedy  this  directly  by  barring  the  door 
against  newcomers.  "  Formerly,"  it  is  urged  by  the  unionists, 
"  there  was  no  entry  except  after  a  long  apprenticeship :  let  us 
re-establish  apprenticeship,  let  us  interpose  a  stiff  professional 
examination  as  a  barrier  against  intruders,  and  we  shall  see 
our  ranks  become  less  dense.  We  shall  then  be  able  to  regulate 
the  enrolment  judiciously,  and  shall  no  longer  have  to  compete 
with  men  who  do  not  properly  belong  to  our  trade." 

Both  men  were  agreed  as  to  the  principle  of  apprenticeship, 
but  Beeston  was  more  exacting  as  to  its  duration,  which  he 
would  fix  at  seven  years,  while  his  colleague  would  be  content 
with  four.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  same  man  had 
just  said  that  a  plumber  was  no  longer  a  plumber  but  merely 
a  fixer.  Seven  years  spent  in  learning  to  fix  apparatus,  and 
then  a  professional  examination  at  the  end  of  the  seven  years 
as  a  guarantee  that  the  apprentice  really  has  learned  to  fix,  is 
almost  a  luxury  in  the  way  of  precaution,  and  the  public  is 
certainly  thoroughly  protected  against  bad  work.  Only  it  is 
not  in  the  interest  of  the  public  that  this  is  done.  The  public 
is  satisfied  with  the  actual  regime,  and  it  is  their  legitimate 
attempt  to  get  work  cheaply  done  which  has  helped  the  trans- 
formation of  the  trade.  The  malcontents  are  the  old  privileged 
workmen,  who  see  their  specialism  menaced,  and  as  this 
specialism  is  tending  to  disappear  they  try  to  re-establish  it  arti- 
ficially. The  trade  is  becoming  easier,  let  us  make  apprentice- 
ship more  difficult — such  is  the  monstrous  outcome  of  their 
system  of  defence. 


72  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

To  enforce  this  would  require  a  combination  of  restraints 
amounting  to  actual  tyranny.  Penalties  would  be  forcibly 
enacted  in  the  case  of  any  London  citizen  bold  enough  to 
have  his  bath-room  or  gas  fittings  replaced  by  some  worthy 
man  without  any  certificates  of  examination  and  apprentice- 
ship. It  is  the  old  guild  monopoly  carried  into  our  century  of 
free  competition ;  it  is  an  attempt  to  render  immutable  an  order 
of  things  which  is  undergoing  a  perpetual  transformation ;  it  is, 
in  fact,  mere  absurdity. 

However,  no  personal  effort  on  the  part  of  the  workmen 
can  make  good  the  decadence  of  the  trade.  I  asked  Beeston, 
who  complained  bitterly  of  irregular  employment,  whether 
plumbers  attempted  to  occupy  themselves  in  some  other  line 
while  out  of  work. 

"  No,"  he  replied,  "  we  don't  care  to  do  work  beneath  us." 

"  Have  you  never  thought  of  going  to  the  United  States  ? 
First -class  workmen  are  very  scarce  there  and  wages  are 
higher." 

"  Yes,  that  is  so,  but  America  is  no  place  for  a  good  work- 
man. Their  work  is  hurried  and  rough." 

In  short,  the  London  plumbers  practically  consider  them- 
selves bound  to  their  guild  and  their  city.  Suggest  different 
work  to  them,  or  even  the  same  work  outside  London,  and 
they  will  have  none  of  it,  and  so  nothing  is  left  but  for  them 
to  be  buried  beneath  the  ruins  of  their  trade.  However,  they 
attempt  to  resist,  and  by  what  artificial  and  illusory  means 
we  have  just  seen.  Instead  of  organising  afresh  on  a  new 
basis,  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  clientele  under  the  new 
conditions,  they  attempt  to  subordinate  public  convenience  to 
an  old  form  of  organisation  which  is  no  longer  adapted  to  new 
conditions. 

It  is  the  aristocracy  of  the  trade  which  is  at  the  head  of 
the  movement.  Out  of  3000  plumbers  in  London  only  about 
a  third  belong  to  the  Union,  but  they  are  the  cream  of  the 
trade.  This  must  necessarily  be  so.  In  the  first  place,  it  is 
generally  the  best  workmen  who  are  readiest  to  combine  for 
an  advantage  which  is  not  immediate,  for  such  a  course  pre- 
supposes a  certain  degree  of  foresight  and  of  judgment  of 
which  not  every  one  is  capable.  Secondly,  the  best  workmen 
are  precisely  those  who  cling  most  to  their  specialism,  who 


CHAP,  ii  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  73 

are  the  most  eager  to  defend  it,  who  lose  most  by  being  con- 
founded with  unskilled  labourers,  and  who  feel  the  greatest 
pride  in  their  position  and  think  other  work  beneath  them. 

I  do  not  propose  to  treat  here  of  the  advantages  procured 
by  the  Union  considered  as  a  society  for  mutual  assistance, 
though  a  sense  of  justice  towards  an  association  of  honour- 
able and  hard-working  men  compels  me  to  allude  to  them. 
What  I  blame  is  the  evil  and  futile  use  they  make  of  their 
power  in  their  struggle  against  industrial  evolution.  Outside 
that  the  Union  renders  real  services  to  its  members  in  points 
of  detail,  but  it  would  render  far  more  important  services 
if,  instead  of  doggedly  endeavouring  to  resuscitate  the  past,  it 
concerned  itself  with  organising  the  future,  if  it  sought  to 
find  openings  abroad,  in  the  United  States  or  Australia,  for 
members  willing  to  expatriate  themselves,  and  if  it  showed 
them  the  wisdom  of  such  a  determination  instead  of  buoying 
them  up  with  deceptive  hopes. 

The  plumbers  are  not  alone  in  acting  thus.  At  the  Trade 
Union  Congress  of  1893  I  heard  similar  proposals.  Take,  for 
example,  the  resolution  presented  by  Mr.  John  Develin  on  the 
question  of  coopers  in  the  navy.1 

That  this  Congress  strongly  condemns  the  action  of  the  Government 
in  engaging  youths  as  coopers  in  the  navy  under  the  age  of  twenty-one 
years  ;  by  so  doing  we  believe  it  to  be  doing  a  very  great  injustice  to  our 
trade  ;  secondly,  we  consider  that  our  British  industry  suffers  greatly 
through  the  Government  giving  away  year  by  year  the  whole  (or  part) 
of  the  naval  pork  contracts  to  foreigners ; 2  thirdly,  in  allowing  labourers 
to  perform  coopers'  work  in  the  Government  stores,  either  at  Haulbow- 
line  or  elsewhere.  In  the  Government  stores  at  Haulbowline  no  regular 
coopers  are  employed,  but  the  work  is  performed  by  unskilled  labourers, 
using  the  tools  of  competent  workmen,  to  which  they  have  really  no 
claim. 

Is  not  this  remarkable?  The  coopers'  tools  are  declared 
taboo  and  reserved  for  the  sole  usage  of  one  body.  If  the 
preparation  of  wood  by  machinery  simplifies  cooperage,  properly 
so  called,  why  forbid  it  to  those  who  can  apply  themselves  to 
it  ?  To  the  honour  of  the  Congress,  it  should  be  said  that 
among  its  members  was  a  man  of  sufficient  good  sense  and 
intelligence  to  checkmate  this  resolution  by  moving  the 

1  Trades  Union  Congress,  meeting  of  Friday  8th  September  1893. 

2  No  doubt  because  the  making  of  the  barrels  is  thus  taken  out  of  the  hands 
of  English  coopers. 


74  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

previous  question.  His  argument  was,  in  substance,  that  the 
terms  "  skilled  "  and  "  unskilled  "  labourer  must  be  more  exactly 
defined  than  hitherto.  To  narrow  the  term  "  skilled  labourer  " 
too  much  was  to  raise  the  problem  of  what  to  do  with  those 
who  were  thus  debarred  from  work.  His  motion  was  adopted, 
and  the  Admiralty  will  continue  to  get  its  barrels  made  by 
outsiders  whose  work  is  satisfactory. 

Similarly  the  engineers  protest  against  the  conduct  of 
factory  owners  and  shipowners  who  employ  stokers  without  a 
special  certificate  at  their  engines.  Of  course  they  appeal  to 
the  public  security,  but  the  facts  they  cite  go  contrary  to  their 
pretensions.  They  complain,  for  instance,  that  incompetent 
engineers  have  recently  been  introduced  into  the  Admiralty 
dock  and  ship  yards,  and  that  the  number  of  first-class  workmen 
on  the  staff  has  been  reduced,  and  the  Engineers'  Union 
denounces  the  danger  thus  created.  For  my  part,  I  have  little 
belief  in  this  danger.  A  manufacturer  or  a  shipowner  might 
perhaps,  from  motives  of  false  economy,  employ  inferior  work- 
men, though  even  he  has  weighty  inducements  not  to  do  so, 
but  such  an  exaggerated  attempt  at  economy  is  difficult  to 
understand  in  a  public  department  whose  expenses  are  in- 
cluded in  the  budget  of  national  expenditure. 

The  same  resolution  contains  an  article  which  shows  more 
clearly  that  the  true  motive  actuating  the  engineers  is  their 
own  narrow  interest  and  not  the  public  weal.  Their  spokes- 
man, Mr.  J.  Anderson,  urged  that  the  ships'  engineers  should 
not  be  employed  in  repairing  their  own  vessels  if  they  put 
into  a  port  in  Great  Britain,  but  that  engineers  should  be 
engaged  ashore  for  the  work.  Thus  two  engineers  would  be 
engaged  at  once — an  engineer  on  the  strength  of  the  vessel, 
paid  by  the  week  or  month,  and  a  working  engineer  paid  by 
the  day  or  by  the  piece. 

Such  demands,  whether  they  emanate  from  plumbers, 
coopers,  or  engineers,  simply  prove  one  thing,  that  the  trades 
are  becoming  more  accessible,  require  less  technical  skill,  and 
may  be  practised  without  a  long  apprenticeship.  In  reality 
they  are  losing  their  specialist  character,  and  no  artificial 
measures  will  revive  it.  Machinery  has  overthrown  the 
ancient  walls  which  protected  these  trades,  and  it  is  useless 
to  try  to  raise  fresh  ones.  We  have  seen  how  the  customs 


CHAP,  ii  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  75 

of  certain  trades,  upheld  by  the  power  of  their  Unions,  has 
artificially  lengthened  apprenticeship,  but  these  customs  merely 
make  more  stringent  a  practice  required  by  the  very  con- 
ditions of  the  trade,  and  consequently  such  trades  can  still 
resist  in  spite  of  the  dangers  which  threaten  them.  Where, 
however,  the  old  barriers  have  fallen  of  themselves,  when,  for 
example,  the  fixer  can  replace  the  plumber,  when  the  cooper 
is  forced  to  admit  that  his  work  can  be  done  by  an  unskilled 
labourer  furnished  with  good  tools,  when  an  intelligent  stoker 
can  manage  a  ship's  engines,  it  is  impossible  to  force  the  public 
to  refuse  these  services.  Such  is  the  second  stage  of  resist- 
ance, where  the  close  body  becomes  impossible,  and  external 
pressure  succeeds  in  overcoming  the  obstacles  in  its  way. 

Further,  it  does  not  seem  that  legislation  in  England 
should  come  to  the  aid  of  the  threatened  trades.  The  pro- 
posals of  the  older  men  find  but  little  echo  even  among  the 
Trade  Unions,  though  these  have  recently  become  favourable 
to  the  intervention  of  the  State  on  certain  points.  This  may 
be  seen  by  following  the  debates  at  the  most  recent  meetings 
of  the  Congress.  If  Socialism  is  destined  to  have  a  future  in 
England,  it  will  not  in  all  probability  be  by  a  return  to  the 
old  trade  guilds.  At  a  later  stage  we  shall  see  it  clearly 
manifested  in  connection  with  mines  and  factories,  and  that 
will  be  the  place  to  discuss  it,  to  estimate  its  force,  and  to 
discover  its  real  origin.  For  the  present  I  shall  content 
myself  with  noting  one  obvious  but  important  point,  that  the 
Socialist  tendencies  of  the  threatened  trades  are  undoubtedly 
due  to  their  weakness.  Those  which  are  really  strong,  like 
the  glassmakers,  ask  nothing  from  the  State :  they  are  self- 
sufficient,  because  the  natural  conditions  of  their  trade  are 
still  on  their  side.  The  trades  which  have  been  affected 
recently  still  trust  in  the  methods  of  private  initiative  which 
have  so  long  been  successful,  they  have  not  yet  a  clear 
perception  of  the  danger,  and  they  do  not  call  legislation  to 
their  aid.  This  is  the  case  of  the  printers.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  those  who  feel  the  full  force  of  machine  competition, 
and  who  see  that  they  are  powerless  to  resist  alone,  who  cry 
out  for  legislative  help.  It  is  the  last  desperate  cry  of  a 
drowning  man.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  Socialism 
of  this  sort  has  no  future,  it  is  merely  a  sign  of  irremediable 


76  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

decadence.     We  shall  meet  it  later  under  forms  less  obviously 
pathological. 

Before  we  close  this  study  of  the  resistance  of  the  old 
specialised  trades  to  the  industrial  evolution,  we  must  still 
examine  the  last  term,  which  marks  the  end  of  the  struggle 
and  the  definite  triumph  of  machinery.  Below  the  trades 
which  are  struggling  at  an  evident  disadvantage  must  be 
classed  those  which  no  longer  struggle  at  all,  which  admit 
their  defeat,  which  have  lost  the  market,  but  which  still  drag 
on  a  wretched  existence,  catching  at  any  circumstance  behind 
which  their  specialism  can  find  a  shelter.  The  types  thus 
furnished  are  rare,  and  almost  always  "present  some  special 
characteristic.  Generally  they  owe  their  preservation  to  some 
accidental  fact,  to  the  fancy  of  a  limited  circle  of  customers, 
or  the  original  character  of  the  worker.  In  many  ways  they 
resemble  the  antiquarian  treasures  which  delight  the  amateur, 
and  they  would  have  merely  the  interest  of  a  curiosity  for  the 
observer  if  they  did  not  mark  the  end  of  the  cycle  of  resistance. 
With  them  we  see  how  a  trade  dies,  and  this  gives  them  a 
claim  on  our  attention. 


III.   The  Vanquished  Trades, 

Probably  the  textile  industry  furnishes  the  most  character- 
istic example  of  the  defeat  of  the  ancient  trades.1  The  most 
complete  tyro  knows  that  the  cloth  he  wears  has  been  woven 
by  machinery  in  a  mill,  and  that  the  old  type  of  hand-loom 
weaver  has  almost  entirely  disappeared.  Hand-loom  weaving 
is  'no  longer  found  except  in  some  special  branches — in  the 
manufacture  of  such  luxuries  as  rich  silk  fabrics,  ribbons,  and 
the  finest  linen.  It  still  exists,  but  as  the  handmaid  of  the 
modern  system,  in  the  manufacture  of  woollen  fabrics  for  cloth- 
ing. Samples  of  new  patterns  are  worked  out  on  hand-looms 
before  they  are  entrusted  to  power-looms.  In  a  mill  in  Gala- 
shiels,  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  tweeds,  I  saw  as  many 
as  twenty  hand-looms  preparing  samples  for  the  coming  season. 

It  is  not  under  such  conditions,  of  course,  that  we  must 

1  We  shall  here  study  the  textile  industry  under  its  ancient  form  as  a  cottage 
industry.  Its  modern  form  will  be  studied  in  the  sections  dealing  with  the 
factory  system. 


CHAP,  ii  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  77 

observe  the  hand-loom  weaver  if  we  wish  to  understand  what 
lias  become  of  the  ancient  type,  but  in  the  few  independent 
private  workrooms  where  he  may  still  be  found.  Only  these 
private  workrooms  can  give  us  any  idea  of  the  state  of  the 
textile  industry  before  the  appearance  of  machinery,  and  of  the 
present  situation  of  the  specialists  which  the  trade  turned  out. 

In  this  part  of  my  task  I  had  a  singular  piece  of  good 
fortune.  While  studying  the  Scottish  miners  in  Midlothian, 
I  read  a  notice  in  the  Journal  des  Ddbats  of  an  interesting 
book  just  published  by  an  aged  English  artisan,  under  the 
title  Lights  and  Shadows  in  the  Life  of  an  Artisan,  in  which 
the  author,  a  Mr.  Gutteridge,  a  ribbon-weaver  in  Coventry, 
told  the  story  of  his  life.  I  hastened  to  write  to  him,  and 
the  cordial  welcome  I  received  from  him  subsequently  enabled 
me  to  complete  his  monograph.  I  am  much  indebted  to  him 
for  the  following  information. 

Gutteridge  has  witnessed  the  transformation  of  the 
industry.  In  1831,  when  he  had  been  apprenticed  for  three 
years,  working  in  a  manufactory  under  his  father's  superin- 
tendence, Mr.  Josiah  Beck,  the  head  of  a  neighbouring  factory, 
introduced  into  Coventry  the  first  power- looms  for  manu- 
facturing silk  ribbons.  It  was  a  revolution  in  the  town.  Mr. 
Beck  put  at  his  new  looms  young  women  paid  by  the  week, 
and  the  ribbon-makers  felt  themselves  menaced  if  women,  who 
had  hitherto  been  employed  only  as  assistants,  and  who  pos- 
sessed no  technical  knowledge,  could,  thanks  to  power-looms, 
supply  their  places.  In  that  case  what  did  they  gain  from 
the  seven  years'  apprenticeship  by  which  they  had  bought  the 
right  to  work  as  ribbon- weavers  ?  The  general  discontent 
manifested  itself  first  under  the  form  of  protests  and  indigna- 
tion meetings,  but  the  excitement  soon  rose  to  such  a  pitch  that 
acts  of  violence  followed.  At  the  end  of  an  uproarious  meeting 
the  weavers  went  in  a  body  to  Mr.  Beck's  factory  with  the 
intention  of  setting  the  unfortunate  gentleman  astride  an  ass 
with  his  face  to  its  tail,  and  of  parading  him  through  the 
streets  in  this  plight.  After  seizing  him  and  subjecting  him 
to  gross  ill-treatment,  they  broke  the  offending  looms,  set  fire 
to  them,  and  burned  them,  along  with  the  entire  premises.1 

1  See  Lights  and  Shadows  in  the  Life  of  an  Artisan,  by  Joseph  Gutteridge, 
Curtis  and  Beamish,  Coventry,  1893,  pp.  32,  33. 


78  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

Such  were  the  sentiments  with  which  the  artisan  class  met 
the  introduction  of  machinery.  This  incident  is  only  one 
among  many,  nor  have  such  acts  of  revolt  against  new  inven- 
tions been  confined  to  England. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  these  inventions  did  in  most  cases 
deprive  men  of  hardly  -  won  privileges.  The  history  of 
Gutteridge's  early  years  must  be  read  in  order  to  understand 
what  a  price  a  man  paid  to  enter  the  trade.  Seven  years 
apprenticeship  was  rigorously  exacted,  and  the  conditions  were 
hard.  In  the  first  place,  half  the  wages  gained  by  an 
apprentice  at  any  task  were  kept  back  by  the  master — the 
same  custom  which  is  still  in  vogue  among  printers,  and  was 
then  general.  In  the  second  place,  the  apprentice  was  bound 
to  his  employer  for  seven  years  by  a  formal  contract,  and 
could  not  leave  him  on  any  pretext,  as  the  payment  of  the 
forfeit  was  practically  impossible  for  a  lad  of  eighteen  earning 
only  half  the  usual  rate  of  wages.  Thirdly,  the  apprentice 
was  forbidden  to  marry  before  he  was  out  of  his  time. 
Gutteridge  relates  how  he  disregarded  this  prohibition,  thereby 
bringing  upon  himself  reproaches  and  unpleasantnesses  of  all 
kinds  from  his  family  and  his  employer.  Finally,  if  an 
apprentice's  ill-luck  put  him  under  a  drunken  foreman,  which 
was  Gutteridge's  experience,  much  good-will  and  tact  were 
needed  to  succeed  in  learning  his  trade.  Thus  the  apprentice 
became  a  sort  of  fag,  until  at  length  he  attained  the  dignity 
of  workman,  and  thus  apprenticeship  lost  the  character  of 
instruction  which  had  been  its  original  justification. 

Having  passed  through  this  somewhat  arbitrary  probation, 
the  weaver  regarded  himself  as  having  a  right  to  practise  his 
trade.  So  far  as  he  was  concerned,  Gutteridge  would  have 
been  willing  enough  to  renounce  it,  for  his  inventive  mind 
attracted  him  to  the  mechanical  arts,  in  which  he  would 
probably  have  succeeded,  but  the  same  barriers  which  shut 
in  his  own  trade  shut  him  out  from  others.  Having  served 
his  apprenticeship  to  ribbon-making,  he  thought  seriously  of 
clock-making.  This  occupation,  which  was  then  in  a  high 
state  of  prosperity  in  Coventry,  suited  his  tastes  better  than 
weaving,  but  there,  too,  seven  years'  apprenticeship  was 
necessary.  If,  under  special  circumstances  and  in  a  moment 
of  pressure,  a  stranger  was  admitted  into  a  clock  manufactory, 


CHAP,  ii  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  79 

he  was  employed  only  on  unimportant  work,  and  the  secrets 
of  the  trade  were  carefully  concealed  from  him  so  as  to 
prevent  any  possibility  of  his  practising  it. 

Consequently,  at  the  age  of  seven-and-twenty,  Gutteridge 
found  himself  bound  to  a  trade  which  he  had  entered  without 
inclination,  and  for  no  other  reason  than  because  his  father 
had  practised  it  before  him,  in  which  he  found  no  opportunity 
for  employing  his  special  faculties,  and  which  in  addition  was 
in  a  most  critical  state,  as  steam  had  begun  to  compete 
with  the  weaver  in  the  manufacture  of  silk  ribbons.  Thus  the 
specialism  which  he  had  acquired  was  much  cramped.  It  had 
still  a  refuge  in  the  manufacture  of  ribbons  of  complicated 
patterns,  which  could  only  be  accomplished  with  a  Jacquard 
loom,  where,  even  with  the  aid  of  mechanical  motive  power, 
a  skilled  workman  was  indispensable.  To  this  narrow  field 
the  weaver  must  now  confine  his  activity,  and  we  shall  see 
the  results  in  the  case  of  Gutteridge. 

The  story  of  his  life  is  marked  by  a  series  of  crises  when 
he  was  out  of  work  for  long  periods.  Fashion  changed — lace 
and  feathers  replaced  ribbons  for  trimming  hats,  and 
passementerie  and  lace  for  trimming  dresses — and  so  the 
looms  were  forced  to  stop.  America,  an  importing  country, 
shut  her  markets  by  prohibitive  duties,  and  France,  an 
exporting  country,  opened  hers  by  the  treaty  of  1860.  Both 
these  blows  struck  directly  at  the  trade  of  Coventry,  and 
Gutteridge  still  suffers  from  them.  From  the  first  year  of  his 
marriage,  when  his  position  as  a  married  apprentice  exposed 
him  to  bitter  reproaches  and  veritable  persecution,  putting 
him,  so  to  speak  in  quarantine,  he  had  also  to  bear  all  the 
miseries  of  extreme  poverty.  The  phrases,  "  short  of  money," 
"  short  of  work,"  fall  constantly  from  his  pen.  At  the  end  of  his 
apprenticeship  he  had  no  loom  of  his  own,  and  he  found  the 
terms  for  hiring  one  in  a  manufactory  too  high.  Moreover, 
he  had  a  complete  knowledge  of  the  Jacquard  loom,  and  was 
unwilling  to  do  work  which  was  beneath  him  in  his  own  trade, 
and  which  would  disqualify  him  if  he  accepted  it.  Luckily 
he  was  clever  and  ingenious,  and  undertook  any  odd  jobs  of 
carpentry,  cabinet-making,  and  furniture-mending  he  could  get, 
and  thus  kept  the  wolf  from  the  door.  But  at  the  price  of 
many  privations  !  His  furniture  was  sold  piece  by  piece,  and 


80  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  I-ART  i 

the  last  chair  was  broken  and  burned  during  a  cold  winter 
night  when  one  of  his  badly-clad  and  starving  children  was 
shivering  with  fever.  For  forty-eight  hours  Gutteridge  and 
his  wife  never  tasted  food.  After  innumerable  vicissitudes  he 
succeeded  in  realising  his  desire :  he  set  up  for  himself  with 
a  loom  lent  by  his  master,  and  for  some  years  he  had  fairly 
regular  employment,  and  was  in  a  position  to  meet  the  expense 
of  his  children's  education  and  his  wife's  ill-health.  He  even 
managed  to  procure  books,  and  began  the  interesting  con- 
chological  collection  which  he  has  continued  ever  since.  Then 
came  the  terrible  crisis  of  the  years  1860  and  1861.  He  was 
out  of  work  for  more  than  a  year,  the  last  penny  of  his 
savings  was  exhausted,  and  it  was  only  through  the  kindness 
of  his  landlord  that  he  was  not  turned  into  the  street.  At 
this  juncture  a  Mr.  Caldicott,  who  had  imported  from  Saint 
Etienne  a  new  loom  which  the  Coventry  weavers  could  not 
work,  applied  to  Gutteridge,  whose  mechanical  talents  and 
ingenuity  had  come  to  his  knowledge.  Thus,  as  it  seemed,  he 
was  once  more  set  upon  his  feet;  but  the  loom  was  not  his 
own,  and  he  was  obliged  to  pay  a  large  sum  to  Mr.  Caldicott 
for  the  use  of  it,  as  the  machine  had  cost  a  great  deal 
originally,  had  undergone  a  great  many  modifications,  and 
therefore  represented  a  considerable  amount  of  invested 
capital.  Consequently  his  work  was  not  highly  paid,  and  it 
needed  all  his  efforts  to  save  enough  out  of  his  scanty  earnings 
to  buy  a  new  outfit. 

He  succeeded  at  last,  and  settled  in  the  little  house  in 
Yardley  Street  in  which  he  is  still  living,  and  where  you  may 
at  last  see  the  family  workroom  for  which  he  used  to  sigh.  His 
wife  works  with  him  in  a  large,  well-lighted  room  occupying 
the  second  storey.  Two  looms  are  set  up  opposite  each  other 
on  each  side  of  the  huge  bay-window,  which  occupies  the 
whole  width  of  the  front  wall  A  horizontal  driving  shaft 
traverses  the  two  lateral  walls  and  communicates  the  motive 
force  furnished  by  a  neighbouring  factory,  thus  rendering  the 
work  of  weaving  more  rapid  and  less  fatiguing.  These  are 
favourable  conditions  of  situation,  but  the  first  essential  is  an 
abundance  of  orders.  Unfortunately,  however,  the  ribbon 
trade  of  Coventry  is  dying.  The  Franco-German  "War  of 
1870  reacted  upon  it,  for  every  commercial  shock  is  disastrous 


CHAP,  ii  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  81 

to  a  falling  industry.  It  was  at  the  same  moment  that  the 
silk  trade  of  Spitalfields  suddenly  recovered  itself,  and  the 
improvement  was  maintained  for  some  years.  At  Coventry, 
on  the  contrary,  from  1871  to  1876,  the  ribbon-makers  had 
no  work,  and  Gutteridge  was  again  obliged  to  rely  for  a  living 
on  his  talent  as  a  cabinetmaker.  He  also  set  up  a  microscope, 
made  violins,  tried  his  hand  at  inlaying,  and  it  was  only  thus, 
by  work  entirely  outside  his  own  special  line,  that  he  succeeded 
in  making  a  living,  and  he  has  often  had  recourse  to  it  since. 
From  September  1890  to  March  1891,  and  during  several 
months  of  1892,  he  did  not  make  a  penny  by  his  trade.  He 
is  now  seventy-five  years  of  age,  and  lives  on  a  small  annuity 
secured  to  him  by  the  kindness  of  some  friends,  supplemented 
by  an  allowance  from  a  benefit  society.  The  two  together 
amount  to  14s.  a  week,  of  which  4s.  goes  for  rent,  and  the 
remaining  10s.  suffice  for  his  wife  and  himself.  Even  these 
meagre  resources  he  owes  in  great  part  to  the  special  interest 
excited  in  Coventry  by  his  talents,  his  scientific  tastes,  and  the 
publication  of  his  memoirs,  circumstances  which  make  him  a 
very  exceptional  artisan.  In  spite  of  his  natural  gifts,  the 
specialism  to  which  he  was  tied  has  brought  him  to  this  sorry 
pass,  and  it  would  not  be  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  he  has 
been  crushed  beneath  its  weight. 

It  is  easy  to  demonstrate  that  Gutteridge's  case  is  not 
exceptional.  It  is  not  only  in  the  ribbon  trade  at  Coventry 
that  silk  weaving  as  a  cottage  industry  has  been  affected.  In 
Spitalfields  clever  weavers  may  still  be  found  who  manufacture 
silk  stuffs  at  home,  but  the  number  is  continually  diminishing 
and  the  trade  no  longer  attracts  apprentices.  Such  is  the 
assertion  made  by  Mr.  Jesse  Argyle  in  a  complete  and  con- 
scientious study  of  the  silk  industry  of  East  London,  included 
in  Mr.  Charles  Booth's  great  work,  Labour  and  Life  of  the 
People?  There  is  an  interesting  feature  in  connection  with  the 
personnel  of  this  industry.  It  consists  for  the  most  part  of 
aged  persons;  70  per  cent  are  over  forty -five  years  of 
age,  whereas  persons  above  this  age  form  only  23  per  cent 
of  the  working  class  as  a  whole.  In  other  words,  the 
trade  is  obtaining  no  recruits  and  is  practised  only  by  those 
who  are  kept  in  it  by  the  possession  of  acquired  special  skill. 
1  Labour  and  Life  of  the  People,  vol.  i.  p.  395. 
G 


82  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PARTI 

They  are,  like  Gutteridge,  the  victims  of  this  special  skill. 
The  field  of  activity  is  continually  narrowing.  It  consists 
chiefly  of  cravats  and  of  rich  silk  handkerchiefs,  admitting  of 
various  patterns;  stuffs  for  the  most  expensive  umbrellas, 
generally  made  by  women ;  and  fine  furniture  silks,  reserved 
for  men,  owing  to  the  vast  size  of  the  loom  and  the  laborious 
nature  of  the  work.  These  are  all  articles  required  only  by  a 
rich  and  very  limited  section  of  the  community.  The  greater 
part  of  the  silk  used  for  umbrellas  and  sunshades,  all  silk  stuffs 
for  wearing  apparel,  the  ordinary  qualities  of  furniture  silk, 
and  almost  all  silk  velvets,  are  machine-made.  A  Spitalfields 
cravat  is  sold  for  half  a  guinea.  It  too  is  an  article  of 
luxury. 

The  wages  of  these  skilled  workers  are  not  what  one 
would  expect.  Except  in  the  case  of  men  employed  in  weav- 
ing furniture  silks,  who  earn  from  35s.  to  £2  a  week,  but 
whose  work  is  very  laborious,  the  average  wage  is  not  high. 
Mr.  Jesse  Argyle  estimates  that  an  average  workman  manu- 
facturing silk  velvet  earns  about  25s.  a  week,  that  weavers  of 
silk  for  cravats  and  handkerchiefs  do  not  exceed  22s.  a  week, 
and  that  women  engaged  at  the  same  work  or  on  silk  for 
costly  umbrellas  earn  only  12s.  or  13s.  a  week.  Whereas  the 
London  dockers,  paid  at  the  rate  of  6d.  an  hour,  often  make 
30s.  a  week,  and  in  the  Scottish  tweed  factories  the  young 
girls  employed  at  power-looms  earn  20s.  a  week.  The  skill 
of  the  Spitalfields  weaver  does  not  receive  any  compensation 
for  its  limited  field  in  a  higher  rate  of  wages. 

Outside  the  silk  trade  the  hand-loom  weaver  is  no  longer 
found  except  under  exceptional  conditions  and  in  the  fabrica- 
tion of  articles  of  a  very  costly  kind.  During  my  stay  in 
Belfast  I  visited  Eobinson  and  Cleaver's  great  shop,  a  firm 
renowned  for  the  fineness  of  its  Irish  linens.  I  was  shown 
hand-woven  linen  handkerchiefs  at  4s.  apiece  which  I  could 
hardly  distinguish  from  machine-made  ones  at  4d.  each.  The 
manager,  who  accompanied  me,  pointed  out  by  the  aid  of  a 
magnifying  glass  the  number  and  fineness  of  the  threads 
which  could  be  counted  in  a  square  inch  of  the  hand-woven 
one.  The  difference  was  very  obvious  when  the  magnifying- 
glass  was  applied  to  the  cheaper  handkerchief.  Side  by  side 
with  these  were  cotton  handkerchiefs  at  2s.  a  dozen,  and 


CHAP.  Ji  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  83 

children's  handkerchiefs  at  2d.  a  dozen.  These  are  what  the 
majority  of  customers  buy.  Messrs.  Eobinson  and  Cleaver  say 
they  sell  30,000  dozen  handkerchiefs  a  week,  but  the  costly 
article,  hand-woven  because  no  machine  work  can  produce 
the  necessary  fineness,  forms  but  a  very  small  fraction  of  the 
total 

Hand-loom  weavers  are  hard  to  find  even  for  cambric 
handkerchiefs.  Messrs.  Eobinson  and  Cleaver  find  their  workers 
among  the  wives  and  daughters  of  Irish  farmers,  in  Ulster  and 
the  south  of  Ireland,  especially  near  Limerick.  These  women 
and  girls  work  at  home  and  are  generally  taught  by  their 
mothers,  but  it  is  not  easy  to  find  new  ones  when  the  older 
ones  die  or  cannot  continue  to  work.  Here,  too,  there  are  no 
fresh  recruits ;  the  trade  is  not  sufficiently  profitable. 

It  is  the  same  with  Irish  lace.  I  saw  lace  handkerchiefs 
worth  £3  5  each,  and  lace  for  trimming,  all  hand-made  in  small 
quantities.  The  machine-made  laces  of  Calais  and  Nottingham 
have  killed  the  hand  industry.  There  is  very  little  demand 
for  it,  and  it  is  not  easy  to  find  women  capable  of  executing  it. 
The  reason  is  simple.  Formerly  among  the  mass  of  those 
who  produced  the  ordinary  article  a  few  would  be  found 
capable  of  making  the  most  expensive  lace.  These  would 
gradually  be  transferred  from  simple  to  more  and  more  com- 
plex work,  and  thus  would  become  real  artists.  Now 
machinery  has  replaced  the  hand  industry  except  for  the 
costliest  kinds  of  lace,  and  has  thus  at  the  same  time  de- 
stroyed the  professional  school  which  produced  workers 
capable  of  executing  them.  Damask  table-linen  still  gives 
occupation  to  some  hand-loom  weavers.  I  saw  two  or  three 
at  Messrs.  Robinson  and  Cleaver's,  and  I  was  told  that  the  firm 
employs  a  few  others  who  work  at  home.  They  manufacture 
the  finest  quality,  which  cannot  be  produced  by  machinery,  and 
execute  special  orders,  the  pattern  of  which  is  never  to  be 
reproduced.  To  set  up  a  power-loom  is  far  more  expensive 
than  to  set  up  a  hand-loom,  and  in  order  to  make  it  worth 
while  the  design  must  be  repeated  a  great  number  of  times. 
If  such  repetition  is  impossible,  and  if  for  any  reason  the 
reproduction  is  forbidden,  it  is  more  economical  to  execute  the 
work  by  hand.  Of  course  these  are  exceptional  cases.  I  was 
shown  the  loom  used  for  making  a  set  of  table-linen  presented 


84  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

by  the  firm  to  the  Queen  on  the  occasion  of  her  jubilee.  Each 
piece  represented  the  principal  facade  of  the  shop.  It  took 
nine  months'  work  to  make  the  patterns  and  set  up  the  loom, 
and  it  is  easy  to  see  what  that  might  come  to.  This  is 
caprice  rather  than  legitimate  industry. 

Messrs.  Robinson  and  Cleaver  make  a  speciality  of  fine  linen. 
Belfast  has  long  been  renowned  for  it,  and  customers  come 
from  all  parts  of  the  world.  I  was  shown  the  order-book  in 
the  order  department.  Turning  over  its  leaves,  I  noted  orders 
from  Egypt,  Smyrna,  Damascus,  Dannemora  in  Sweden, 
Germany,  New  South  "Wales,  Cape  Colony,  Malta,  etc. 

I  asked  to  see  any  other  hand-made  articles  besides  linen 
and  lace.  They  are  not  very  numerous :  Irish  poplins,  fine 
woollen  shawls  of  a  pattern  not  reproduced  often  enough  to 
make  it  worth  while  to  use  machinery,  and  Scottish  stockings 
knitted  in  the  Highlands.  This  is  all  that  remains  of  a  once 
powerful  industry.  Ireland  is  the  last  refuge  of  these 
industries  de  luxe  which  must  be  executed  by  hand  and  are 
poorly  paid,  and  now  even  this  refuge  is  beginning  to  fail. 
Ireland  has  long  been  sending  her  surplus  population  to  the 
United  States  and  to  the  manufacturing  cities  of  England  and 
Scotland.  Irish  workers  in  Lancashire  or  Glasgow  earn  more 
by  tending  a  machine  with  hardly  any  previous  apprenticeship 
than  in  manufacturing  objets  de  luxe,  which  require  great 
experience,  real  skill,  and  the  minutest  care.  A  single  detail 
will  show  how  increasingly  incompatible  with  present  condi- 
tions hand  industries  are  becoming.  Messrs.  Robinson  and 
Cleaver  count  among  their  workers  a  large  number  of  young 
girls  brought  up  in  Catholic  orphanages.  The  exceptional 
position  of  these  convent  workrooms  is  most  adapted  for 
supplying  fresh  workers.  This  amounts  to  saying  that  such 
can  no  longer  be  found  except  under  exceptional  conditions. 

I  have  just  mentioned  the  Highlands  of  Scotland.  There 
we  have  also  a  centre  of  hand  industry,  in  an  environment 
wholly  exceptional  in  its  physical  and  social  isolation,  and  of 
which  the  area  is  continually  shrinking.  Glasgow,  Dundee, 
Aberdeen,  the  mining  centres  of  Fife  and  the  Lothians,  the 
Tweedside  towns,  are  attracting  a  constant  stream  of  High- 
landers into  their  special  industries,  and  those  who  remain 
among  their  native  mountains  are  gradually  invaded  by  new 


CHAP,  ii  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  85 

customs  and  ideas.  Consequently,  the  ancient  domestic 
industry,  where  the  family  spun,  dyed,  and  wove  the  brilliant 
tartans,  has  almost  entirely  disappeared.  It  is  the  same  with 
the  indestructible  stuffs  made  in  the  island  of  Harris  (Harris 
tweeds),  which  have  given  their  name  to  similar  articles 
made  by  machinery.  I  met  in  Edinburgh  a  delightful  High- 
land gentleman,  who  still  wears  the  picturesque  national 
costume,  an  enthusiast  for  the  old  customs,  who  has  collected 
a  great  number  of  evidences  of  the  old  domestic  industry. 
Thanks  to  his  museum,  and  to  the  interesting  details  he  gave 
me  in  conversation,  I  can  insist  upon  the  archaeological 
character  of  the  hand  industry  in  the  Highlands.  It  belongs 
to  the  past.  The  real  old  tartans  are,  as  a  rule,  rough  to  the 
touch,  although  some  of  them  are  of  great  fineness.  Each 
family  used  to  make  for  its  own  consumption,  just  as  Scots- 
women still  knit  stockings  for  themselves,  their  husbands,  and 
their  brothers.  It  was  only  at  a  very  recent  period,  when  the 
Prince  Consort  began  to  encourage  the  manufacture  of  Scottish 
designs,  and  when  tourists  in  search  of  the  picturesque  began 
to  dress  themselves  out  in  kilts,  that  the  Scottish  tartans  were 
manufactured  for  sale.  However,  the  tourist  who  is  con- 
scientious enough  to  insist  on  hand-made  tartan  is  indeed  rare. 
The  majority  buy  tartan  in  Princes  Street,  soft  to  the  touch, 
machine-made,  and  preserving  nothing  of  the  old  tartans  but 
the  arrangement  and  the  colours  of  the  stripes. 

I  cannot  leave  the  subject  of  conquered  industries  without 
anticipating  an  often  expressed  regret.  It  is  the  correct  thing 
to  drop  a  tear  over  the  disappearance  of  the  old  state  of  things, 
to  sigh  for  the  good  old  times  when  the  worker  worked  at  his 
own  hearth,  surrounded  by  his  family,  with  a  steady  custom, 
unacquainted  with  slack  times  or  sudden  fluctuations  in  his 
earnings.  This  idyllic  legend  has  shaped  itself  in  many  minds, 
and  is  due  in  part  to  the  fascination  which  bygones  have  for 
most  of  us,  and  in  part  to  the  just  admiration  felt  for  the  work 
of  these  hand  operatives,  many  of  whom  were  really  artists. 
I  am  most  willing  to  admit  the  superiority  of  their  finest  work 
to  the  machine  work  of  to-day.  I  have  even  explained  how 
the  abandonment  of  hand  work  in  the  ordinary  branches 
destroyed  the  nursery  in  which  these  picked  workers  were 
reared,  but  this  unfortunate  result  should  not  blind  us  to  the 


86  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

happy  transformation  wrought  in  the  condition  of  the  worker 
by  the  introduction  of  machinery. 

I  have  beside  me  a  curious  little  volume  of  verses, 
accompanied  by  a  life  of  the  author,  a  hand-loom  weaver  at 
the  beginning  of  this  century.1  William  Thorn,  born  at 
Aberdeen  in  1799,  was  essentially  a  worker  of  the  old  type. 
In  his  day  hand-loom  weaving  was  not  limited,  as  it  is  to-day, 
to  one  or  two  special  branches,  and  Thorn  was  alternately 
engaged  in  making  shirtings,  sheetings,  tickings,  towellings, 
and  different  sorts  of  tartans.  This  variety  of  occupation  was, 
in  itself,  an  excellent  guarantee  against  forced  interruptions  of 
work,  but  nevertheless  it  succeeded  only  in  a  very  insufficient 
degree.  In  1831  there  was  a  crisis  in  cotton,  on  which  the 
Aberdeen  industry  depended.  Thorn  quitted  his  native  town, 
and  went  to  Dundee,  where  canvas -making  was  the  staple 
occupation.  In  the  spring  of  1837  the  failure  of  some 
American  houses  affected  Dundee,  more  than  6000  looms 
were  suddenly  thrown  out  of  work,  and  Thorn  was  again 
obliged  to  seek  another  sphere.  This  time,  finding  no  opening 
in  his  own  trade,  he  tramped  with  his  wife  and  four  children, 
endeavouring  to  pick  up  a  living  by  selling  a  few  books  which 
he  had  bought  with  the  proceeds  of  his  last  bits  of  furniture. 
He  carried  a  German  flute,  and  earned  a  few  pence  by  singing 
Scottish  songs.  One  night  his  little  daughter  died  of  cold  and 
hunger  at  Kinnaird.  At  last,  after  weeks  of  this  wandering 
life,  a  half-guinea  which  he  received  from  a  laird  of  literary 
tastes  for  an  ode  of  his  own  composition  enabled  him  to  reach 
Aberdeen,  where  he  obtained  a  little  work.  A  few  orders 
came  in,  and  he  settled  at  Inverurie.  But  in  less  than  a  year 
work  again  failed,  and  this  brought  the  direst  poverty  in  its 
train.  There  is  no  need  to  follow  him  into  his  literary  career, 
in  which,  after  many  disappointments,  he  found  a  means  of 
supplementing  his  income.  We  have  seen  enough  to  prove  that 
irregularity  of  employment  is  not  a  new  evil  due  to  machinery. 

It  is  true  that  the  country  weaver  working  for  local 
customers,  and  generally  owning  a  little  bit  of  land,  suffered 
comparatively  little  from  the  slack  times  of  trade.  This  may 
be  easily  seen  at  the  present  day  in  those  parts  of  France 

1  Rhymes  and  Recollections  of  a  Hand -Loom   Weaver,   by  William  Thorn. 
Paisley:  Alexander  Cardner. 


CHAP,  ii  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  87 

where  the  type  still  exists.  But  side  by  side  with  the  weaver 
whose  trade  was  only  an  accessory  source  of  income,  and  who 
was  really  a  peasant,  there  were  formerly  weavers  working  in 
towns  entirely  dependent  on  their  trade  for  a  living,  and  upon 
these  the  crises  due  to  interruption  of  work  produced  the 
effect  we  have  just  seen.  Long  before  the  application  of  steam 
to  the  manufacture  of  textile  fabrics  there  were  manufactories 
in  England  and  on  the  Continent.  As  soon  as  transport 
by  sea,  or  even  by  land,  had  been  carried  to  sufficient  per- 
fection to  permit  of  the  exportation  of  the  products  of  industry, 
the  manufacturing  country  came  into  existence,  in  a  less 
intense  form,  of  course,  than  at  the  present  day,  but  neverthe- 
less as  a  perfectly  well  marked  type.  At  the  end  of  the  last 
century  England  was  already  concerned  to  find  outlets  for  her 
industry,  and  the  history  of  American  Independence  is  evidence 
that  she  was  already  working  for  foreign  markets. 

A  characteristic  of  the  manufacturing  regime  at  that  time, 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  position  of  the  workers,  was 
their  inferior  status.  The  factory  hand  was  necessarily  drawn 
from  the  lowest  stratum,  because  all  the  capable  men  preferred 
to  set  up  for  themselves  in  small  workrooms  at  home.  We 
have  seen  Gutteridge's  efforts  to  succeed  in  working  in  his 
own  house,  either  for  customers  of  his  own  or  for  a  dealer. 
William  Thorn  had  the  same  ambition,  and  in  order  to  realise 
it  he  availed  himself  of  the  unexpected  resources  due  to  his 
poetical  ability.  If  he  went  to  the  factory  it  was  with  regret, 
and  because  he  had  no  work  at  home,  and  he  quitted  it  at  the 
earliest  opportunity. 

The  result  of  this  selection  of  the  unfittest  may  easily  be 
imagined,  and  neither  Gutteridge  nor  Thorn  allows  us  to  over- 
look it.  "  Life  in  the  factory,"  says  the  first,  "  was  very 
demoralising  for  the  young,"  and  he  relates  in  detail  the  end- 
less drinking  for  which  the  arrival  of  each  newcomer  furnished 
an  occasion,  the  tyranny  experienced  by  those  who  wished  to 
avoid  these  stupid  customs,  and  the  coarseness  which  prevailed 
in  the  relations  of  the  young  men  and  young  women.  The 
recollections  of  William  Thorn  are  still  more  bitter.  "The 
factory,"  he  says,  "  was  a  nursery  of  vice  and  sorrow.  Virtue 
perished  within  its  walls,  perished  utterly  and  wholly ;  it  was 
not  even  dreamed  of,  or  if  any  remembrance  of  it  remained,  it 


88  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

was  linked  to  a  deep  and  painful  sense  of  degradation,  so  that 
men  sought  to  forget  what  was  unattainable.  Folly,  sin,  and 
shame  spread  unhindered  around  this  nursery.  Perhaps  it 
was  to  the  advantage  of  the  owners :  I  do  not  want  to  know 
anything  about  it.  It  is  a  duty  to  be  fulfilled  by  those  who 
have  it  in  their  power,  and  to  fulfil  which  some  one  will  be 
found,  to  state  what  was  the  condition  of  factory  hands  in  our 
moral  North  at  the  time."  Thorn  devotes  several  pages  to 
painting  this  state  of  moral  and  material  degradation.  Often, 
in  the  course  of  his  story,  he  adds  some  new  traits  to  his 
emphatic  narrative,  and  it  is  evident  how  deep  was  the 
impression  produced  upon  him. 

Thus  we  have  on  one  side  very  great  irregularity  of 
employment  for  the  chamber  worker,  working  at  his  trade 
with  the  help  of  his  wife,  and  taking  his  children  as  apprentices, 
and  on  the  other,  the  moral  degradation  of  the  factory  hand. 
This  was  the  dilemma  in  England  at  the  beginning  of  the 
century.  I  refer  those  readers  who  are  disposed  to  suspect 
me  of  over-colouring  the  picture  to  Disraeli's  interesting  novel 
Sybil,  and  to  the  numerous  works  of  all  kinds  in  which  the 
Labour  Question  is  examined  under  some  aspect  or  another 
at  the  period  of  which  I  am  speaking.  Their  verdict  is 
unanimous. 

In  addition  we  have  to  remember  the  sudden  alterations 
of  wages  which  made  the  worker  pass  from  one  extreme 
to  the  other.  At  the  end  of  the  last  century,  Thorn  tells 
us,  the  artisan  weavers  of  Aberdeen  earned  10s.  a  day, 
and  refused  to  work  more  than  four  days  a  week.  In  1814 
lOd.  a  day  was  an  ordinary  wage.  These  extraordinary 
variations  were  due  to  the  same  cause  as  the  long  periods  of 
unemployment.  There  was  not  then,  as  there  is  to-day,  a  sort 
of  general  equilibrium  of  production  throughout  the  entire 
world.  The  industry  of  a  country  was  often  dependent  on  a 
single  outlet,  and  if  this  outlet  were  abruptly  closed,  there 
was  a  forced  cessation  of  work,  or  else  work  was  supplied  at 
low  prices  by  enterprising  business  men  who  hoped  that  things 
would  shortly  right  themselves.  In  other  words,  both  the 
industry  of  exportation  and  the  factory  system,  which  was  in 
operation  in  England  before  the  application  of  steam  power  to 
transport  and  to  manufactures,  were  exposed  to  even  more 


CHAP,  ii  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  89 

terrible  hazards  than  they  are  to-day,  and  these  risks  were 
more  especially  felt  by  the  workers.  This  degraded  and 
incapable  class  had  not  learned  to  organise  the  representation 
and  defence  of  its  interests  as  it  has  to-day.  The  long  hours 
of  work  gave  no  opportunity  of  rest,  and  impeded  the  normal 
development  of  the  individual,  physically  as  well  as  in- 
tellectually and  morally.  This  is  a  point  which  must  not 
be  forgotten  in  contrasting  the  very  real  evils  of  the  modern 
system  with  the  supposed  felicity  of  the  workers  of  preceding 
periods.  There  is  a  certain  measure  of  truth  in  the  praise 
bestowed  on  the  old  condition  of  things  in  the  case  of  a  worker 
in  the  country  supplying  a  local  custom.  The  condition  of  such 
a  man,  owing  to  his  being  a  peasant  as  well,  was  stable,  or 
rather  stagnant.  But  all  workers  did  not  belong  to  this  type, 
and  the  bad  reputation  of  the  factory  is  due  in  a  large 
measure  to  the  industrial  period,  now  a  thing  of  the  past, 
which  preceded  the  employment  of  steam  power,  and  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  present  condition  of  industry. 

It  would  seem  as  if  with  the  trades  which  have  been 
beaten  we  had  finished  our  review  of  manufacture  by  hand 
and  our  observation  of  skilled  workmen.  "We  have  still,  how- 
ever, to  examine  an  important  particular  case. 

Hitherto  two  different  types  have  presented  themselves  to 
us.  In  Brown  we  saw  a  skilled  workman  on  his  guard, 
who,  confronted  by  the  decadence  of  his  specialism,  trained  his 
children  for  other  occupations  and  held  himself  in  readiness  to 
abandon  his  own  occupation  before  it  abandoned  him.  In 
another  group  of  trades  we  saw  the  organisation  of  resistance. 
Of  these,  some,  owing  to  special  circumstances  tending  to 
protect  their  specialism,  resisted  with  success ;  others  con- 
tinued their  resistance  under  conditions  which  left  no  doubt  as 
to  the  issue  of  the  struggle ;  others  had  reached  the  limit  and 
had  ceased  to  exist  except  in  exceptional  cases. 

All  these  different  types,  however,  had  this  in  common, 
that  they  belonged  to  trades  directly  affected,  although  in 
different  degrees,  by  the  modern  industrial  evolution.  There 
are  others  which,  far  from  being  threatened  by  this  evolution, 
appear  rather  to  profit  by  it.  It  has  not  affected  to  any  ex- 
tent the  tools  employed,  nor  has  it  attacked  the  position  of  the 
skilled  workman,  but  nevertheless  these  trades  have  experienced 


90  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

a  great  extension  of  their  clientele,  in  consequence  of  the  new 
conditions  of  trade.  They  have  felt,  if  only  in  this  way,  a 
certain  indirect  effect  of  the  general  transformation.  It  is 
principally  by  the  commercial  evolution  that  they  have  been 
affected.  It  is  interesting  to  determine  this  evolution,  and  to 
see  its  effect  on  the  Labour  Question. 


CHAPTEE   III 

THE    ORGANISATION    OF   THE   TRADES    CHIEFLY   MODIFIED    BY 
THE    COMMERCIAL   EVOLUTION 

I.   The  Production  of  Luxuries  under  Competent  Management. 

I  HAD  been  told  in  London,  when  starting  for  Birmingham, 
that  I  should  find  a  large  number  of  small  workshops  in  that 
town.  This  is  a  characteristic  of  Birmingham,  and  was  still 
more  so  thirty  years  ago.  Now,  in  many  branches,  the  trans- 
formation of  the  small  workshop  of  skilled  workmen  into  the 
huge  workshop  of  machine  workers  is  in  process  of  operation. 
This  transformation,  where  it  has  taken  place,  has  been  slower 
and  less  complete  than,  for  instance,  in  the  iron  and  textile 
trades  of  Lancashire.  Thus  the  brass  trade,  although  it  has 
for  a  century  been  undergoing  very  important  modifications, 
which  are  contributing  to  its  evolution  towards  the  modern 
factory  system,  and  the  silversmith's  trade,  notwithstanding 
the  application  of  the  process  of  electro-plating,  which  led  to 
the  foundation  of  the  important  firm  of  Elkington  and  many 
others  in  its  train,  still  remain  for  the  most  part  in  the  hands 
of  skilled  workmen.  Another  important  branch  of  industry 
is  also  carried  on  in  Binningham,  the  jewellery  trade,  and 
here  the  role  of  the  skilled  workman  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  diminished  to  any  serious  extent. 

The  jewellery  trade  in  Birmingham  employs  about  16,000 
hands,  distributed  among  three  or  four  hundred  workshops.  I 
paid  a  visit  to  some  under  the  guidance  of  an  obliging  com- 
patriot, who  has  been  in  business  in  Birmingham  for  twenty 
years  as  a  merchant  of  precious  stones,  and  who  is  consequently 
very  well  informed  about  everything  connected  with  the 


92  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

jewellery  trade.  He  showed  me  first,  of  course,  the  more 
important  houses,  which  employ  three  or  four  hundred  hands. 
If  machinery  had  been  introduced  at  all,  it  was  there,  if  any- 
where, that  I  should  have  ascertained  the  fact.  From  this 
point  of  view  the  visit  to  these  large  workshops  was  especially 
interesting. 

The  firm  of  Payton  and  Sons  employs  about  250  men 
when  trade  is  flourishing,  but  at  that  moment  there  were  only 
about  half  that  number,  owing  to  the  depression  caused  by  the 
failure  of  the  Australian  banks.  Birmingham  jewellery  is  in 
demand  among  a  large  class  in  Australia,  and  this  class  is  at 
present  suffering.  Jewellery,  like  all  objects  of  superfluity, 
only  sells  well  in  prosperous  times,  and  this  is  the  bad  side  of 
the  industries  engaged  in  producing  luxuries.  I  saw  the 
men  at  work.  They  are  all  skilled  workmen,  and  the  motive 
power  put  at  their  disposition  does  not  replace  technical  skill. 
A  simple  pedal  worked  with  the  foot  from  time  to  time 
is  often  sufficient.  It  is  a  question,  perhaps,  of  polishing 
the  setting  of  a  jewel,  a  brooch  or  bracelet,  or  of  burnishing 
it,  or  of  the  application  of  a  thin  leaf  of  gold  to  a  base  metal 
in  order  to  plate  it  with  gold — details  of  very  little  importance 
in  comparison  with  what  is  really  meant  by  the  manufacture 
of  jewellery,  the  chasing,  and  the  setting  of  precious  stones. 
There  is  nothing  gained  by  taking  these  minor  processes  from 
the  skilled  workman  and  entrusting  them  to  workmen  of  a 
lower  grade. 

In  a  workshop  which  at  that  moment  numbered  forty-two 
individuals,  but  which  employs  about  eighty  in  times  of 
prosperity,  the  motive  power  employed  is  a  gas  engine.  This 
technical  detail  has  its  importance.  Gas  engines,  unlike  steam 
engines,  consume  nothing  except  during  the  time  they  are 
actually  in  use,  movement  being  produced  by  a  series  of 
explosions  resulting  from  the  sudden  inflammation  of  the  gas. 
If  the  machine  is  to  be  stopped  the  meter  is  turned  off  and 
the  expense  ceases.  It  is  an  advantage,  consequently,  to 
employ  gas  engines  for  performing  mechanical  work  which  is 
liable  to  frequent  interruptions,  and  where  the  motive  power 
is  used  only  as  an  accessory.  On  the  other  hand,  a  steam 
engine  is  more  economical  when  the  work  requires  a  powerful 
and  constant  motive  force,  and  has  hitherto  been  chiefly  em- 


CHAP,  in  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  93 

ployed  in  large  factories.  Gas  engines  are  principally  used  in 
workshops  where  the  workman,  instead  of  tending  a  machine 
all  day  long,  makes  use  of  one  from  time  to  time  to  assist  him 
in  his  manual  labour. 

This,  then,  is  a  trade  whose  methods  have  been  but  little 
affected,  and  which  has  remained  exclusively  in  the  hands  of 
skilled  workers.  It  is  true  that  I  saw  a  fair  number  of  young 
girls  in  the  manufactories  I  visited,  but  in  the  jewellery  trade 
these  are  also  skilled  workers.  Their  delicate  fingers  lend 
themselves  readily  to  the  fine  operations  involved  in  making 
and  setting  jewels.  The  work  demands  no  muscular  strength, 
but  rather  dexterity,  care,  and  attention,  in  all  of  which  women 
are  superior  to  men.  Women,  too,  ask  a  lower  wage,  and 
there  is  the  further  consideration  that  they  do  not  as  a  rule 
set  up  as  rivals,  as  is  so  frequently  done  by  male  workers  who 
possess  the  necessary  skill  and  a  little  push.  So  easy  is  it  to 
start  a  small  workshop,  that  the  working  jeweller  of  to-day 
is  not  infrequently  the  rival  of  to-morrow,  and  employers 
minimise  this  danger  by  employing  young  girls. 

Here  too,  then,  we  see  the  same  anxiety  to  monopolise  the 
trade,  but  among  the  masters  only.  The  men,  although  they 
are  still  skilled  workmen,  do  not  feel  it  necessary  to  defend 
themselves  against  the  intrusion  of  outsiders,  nor  do  they  form 
powerful  Unions.  What  is  the  reason  of  this  ? 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  because  their  technical  skill  is  not 
threatened  :  machinery  is  not  invading  their  province,  as  it  has 
done,  for  example,  in  the  case  of  the  plumbers.  It  is  therefore 
useless  to  take  up  arms  against  it. 

Secondly,  their  technical  skill  is  not  so  limited  as  that  of 
the  glassworkers  or  plumbers,  and  consequently  there  would 
be  less  reason  in  a  rigid  limitation  of  the  number  of  apprentices. 
A  glassworker  or  a  cutler  can  make  nothing  but  glass  or 
knives,  whereas  a  jeweller  can  employ  his  professional  dexterity 
as  a  silversmith  or  a  clockmaker. 

Lastly,  jewellers  have  another  reason  for  not  closing  the 
ranks  of  their  trade,  namely,  that  during  the  last  thirty  years 
there  has  been  a  large  and  steady  increase  in  the  demand. 
Jewellery  for  export  is  chiefly  manufactured  in  Birmingham, 
which  supplies  to  Australia,  New  Zealand,  India,  and  the  Cape 
the  chains,  bracelets,  lockets,  brooches,  and  sets  which  are 


94  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

presented  by  English  colonists  and  merchants  to  their  wives 
and  sweethearts.  Englishwomen  at  home  often  abuse 
this  kind  of  ornament,  and  their  sisters  in  the  colonies  ex- 
aggerate their  extravagance.  In  times  of  good  harvests  or 
brisk  trade,  Birmingham  has  its  share  of  the  gains,  and  the 
prosperity  of  new  countries  has  contributed  in  a  large  measure 
to  the  development  of  the  jewellery  trade  in  Birmingham. 
We  have  seen  that  the  financial  disasters  in  Australia  affected 
it  very  seriously.  "  I  have  not  done  a  single  stroke  of  business 
for  a  fortnight,"  said  my  friend,  the  merchant  of  precious  stones, 
"  and  till  things  look  up  over  there  we  can  do  nothing  here." 
No  doubt  these  crises  are  hard,  but  an  industry  whose  lot  is 
bound  up  with  the  prosperity  of  the  English  colonies  has 
nothing  to  complain  of,  for  their  future  is  sufficiently  assured 
to  afford  every  ground  for  satisfaction  with  such  a  base  of 
operations. 

The  Birmingham  jewellery  industry  has  thus,  at  the  present 
day,  acquired  the  well-defined  character  of  doing  principally 
an  export  trade,  and  this  circumstance  marks  very  clearly  the 
action  of  the  new  economic  conditions.  It  is  a  far  cry  from 
the  present  position  to  the  old  one,  from  a  circle  of  consumers 
extending  as  far  as  the  Antipodes  to  the  local  custom  of  the 
past.  It  is  entirely  on  this  side  that  the  jewellery  trade  has 
been  affected,  and  we  shall  see  how  this  transformation  in  the 
clientele  has  expressed  itself  in  the  organisation  of  the  trade. 

The  most  obvious  result  is  the  creation  of  those  large 
firms  which  sometimes  employ  as  many  as  three  hundred 
persons.  Their  history  would  be  sufficient  to  prove  the  point. 
They  are  all  of  recent  origin,  and  the  head,  generally  a  former 
working  jeweller  or  the  son  of  such  a  man,  is  nothing  but  a 
small  employer  whose  clientele  has  grown,  and  who  has  found 
himself  in  a  position  to  serve  a  large  clientele,  and  to  do  a 
wholesale  trade.  Side  by  side  with  him,  a  large  number  of 
other  small  employers  have  remained  what  they  were,  without 
the  knowledge  or  the  ability  to  profit  by  favourable  circum- 
stances. They  were  lacking  in  the  spirit  of  enterprise,  in 
brains,  or  in  capital,  or  else  they  were  not  ready  when  a  chance 
came  their  way,  and  did  not  seize  the  occasion  promptly 
enough.  The  large  concerns  have  not  killed  them,  in  a  sense 
they  have  even  benefited  them,  since  the  wider  relations  created 


CHAP,  in  IN  SMALL   WORKSHOPS  95 

by  them  have  benefited  Birmingham  as  a  whole.  The  small 
businesses  are  in  some  sort  the  satellites  of  the  larger  ones, 
and  move  in  their  orbit. 

Some  of  these  powerful  houses  are  not  content  with 
merely  finding  openings  for  their  products  abroad,  but  go 
there  for  a  part  of  their  raw  material.  On  one  shop  I  read 
the  notice, "  Branch  at  Durban  (Natal)."  Since  the  discovery  of 
the  diamond  mines  at  the  Cape,  there  have  been  close  and 
frequent  trade  relations  between  South  Africa  and  Birming- 
ham. Generally,  however,  they  are  not  direct,  and  the 
precious  stones  pass  through  several  hands  before  they  reach 

the  jeweller  who  makes  them  up.  Mr.  H.  D explained 

to  me  that  London  is  the  principal  market  for  uncut  stones, 
Cape  diamonds,  or  coloured  stones  from  India.  It  is  there 
that  he  makes  his  own  purchases,  but  he  sends  them  to 
France  to  be  cut  at  Saint-Claude  in  the  Jura,  where  his  family 
have  a  diamond  -  cutting  business.  "  At  one  tune,"  he  told 
me,  "  we  only  cut  coloured  stones  at  Saint  -  Claude,  and 
Amsterdam  had  the  monopoly  of  diamond  cutting,  but  we 
introduced  it  some  years  ago,  and  now  I  can  send  to  France 
whatever  I  buy  in  London."  Then  it  only  remains  to  sell  the 
cut  stone,  and  for  this,  it  appears,  Birmingham  is  the  principal 
market  in  the  world. 

Thus,  in  this  particular  town  the  manufacture  of  jewellery 
has  led  to  the  creation  of  a  very  important  branch  of  trade, 
carried  on  as  a  rule  outside  the  firms  engaged  in  the  jewellery 
trade.  These  firms  generally  buy  the  raw  materials  which  they 
employ  from  merchants  of  precious  stones  and  of  the  noble 
metals.  These  raw  materials  are  very  costly  and  require  the 
nicest  judgment,  and  the  master  jeweller,  even  in  a  small 
way  of  business,  must  have  a  certain  command  of  capital 
and  a  real  expert  knowledge.  It  is  not  anybody  and  every- 
body who  can  set  up  as  a  master  jeweller.  This  point  is  worthy 
of  note,  and  has  an  important  bearing  on  the  prosperity  of  the 
workers  engaged  in  this  industry.  We  shall  shortly  see  what 
grave  inconveniences  and  what  an  abnormal  situation  result 
from  the  presence  of  a  large  number  of  incompetent  masters  in 
any  trade.  Here,  on  the  contrary,  we  have  to  do  with  a 
normally  constituted  trade.  The  working  jewellers  are  outside 
the  area  of  the  unionist  agitation,  they  make  no  complaint  of 


96  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

being  exploited,  they  are  examples  of  a  type  sufficiently  un- 
common at  the  present  day,  that  of  a  class  of  skilled  workmen 
who  have  been  benefited  rather  than  menaced  by  modern  con- 
ditions of  labour. 

Along  with  the  jewellers  we  may  group  the  various  crafts- 
men, the  bronze-workers  and  enamellers,  employed  at  Birming- 
ham in  the  manufacture  of  ornamental  bronzes.  Here,  however, 
the  demand,  although  it  includes  a  number  of  widely  separated 
countries,  is  far  less  numerous,  and  the  artistic  direction 
required  in  their  manufacture  demands  in  the  master  a 
certain  aesthetic  training  and  a  cultivated  taste.  The  result  is 
that  the  small  employer  is  rarely  found  in  this  trade,  or  else  he 
works  in  direct  dependence  on  a  firm  which  deals  in  bronzes. 
The  worker  remains  a  skilled  worker. 

The  chasers  and  engravers  find  employment  for  their 
special  skill  in  the  manufacture  of  costly  silver,  especially  of 
table  plate,  which  rich  English  families  usually  possess  in  great 
abundance.  Here,  too,  the  large  manufactory  is  the  rule.  At 
Elkington's,  in  Birmingham,  and  at  Rodgers's,  in  Sheffield,  I 
saw  a  great  many  workers,  graving-tool  in  hand,  executing 
their  designs  without  any  mechanical  aid.  With  them  we 
enter  the  domain  of  art. 

The  success  of  these  industries  depends  in  a  very  excep- 
tional manner  on  the  ability  of  the  master.  It  is  not  enough 
for  him  to  possess  administrative  and  commercial  talents,  he 
must  also  have  an  intuitive  knowledge  of  what  will  please  the 
taste  of  purchasers,  and  be  able  to  select  new  designs  which 
will  be  liked.  This  becomes  more  difficult  as  the  public  grows 
more  exacting.  Only  forty  years  ago  the  designs  in  English 
silver  and  bronze  were  in  the  worst  possible  taste ;  instead  of 
elegance  and  proportion  there  was  eccentricity  and  straining 
after  effect,  and  the  ornament  was  complicated,  overdone,  and 
ungraceful.  This  lack  of  taste  still  characterises  many  similar 
objects,  but  there  is  nevertheless  a  very  real  progress  in  some 
branches.  No  one  can  deny,  for  instance,  that  the  church 
brasses  furnished  by  the  firm  of  John  Hardman,  at  Birmingham, 
show  a  refined  artistic  education  in  the  designers.  This  move- 
ment has  been  aided  by  the  different  institutions  created  by 
the  impulse  of  the  South  Kensington  Museum,  and  there  is 
good  reason  to  hope  for  a  transformation  at  no  distant  date  in 


CHAP,  in  IN  SMALL   WORKSHOPS  97 

those  productions  of  the  silversmith  in  which  there  has 
hitherto  been  a  less  evident  progress. 

Mr.  John  Hardman  is  also  at  the  head  of  a  stained-glass 
manufactory.  This  is  also  a  trade  in  which  the  master's  taste 
is  an  essential  element  of  success,  and  where  the  specialism  of 
the  workers  remains  uninjured.  Some  of  them  design  the 
model  of  the  window  and  mark  exactly  the  contour  of  the 
leads,  others  stain  the  glass,  while  the  less  skilful  cut  the  glass 
and  place  and  solder  the  leads.  All  this  requires  at  least  care, 
dexterity,  and  great  practice.  The  only  merely  manual  work 
which  I  saw  executed  in  Mr.  Hardman's  stained-glass  manu- 
factory was  that  of  drawing  out  the  lead,  and  passing  it  through 
a  machine  which  gave  it  the  required  shape. 

Mr.  Hardman  employs  about  eighty  men,  nearly  all  of 
whom  have  been  with  him  for  a  long  time,  and  many  of  whom 
worked  for  his  father,  the  founder  of  the  firm.  In  order  to 
make  good  workmen  they  must  begin  as  children  on  leaving 
school,  and  must  be  taught  their  craft.  Here  the  master  is 
not  merely  an  employer,  but  more  in  the  position  of  a  father. 
Mr.  Hardman  knows  all  his  men  by  name,  and  their  relations. 
"  We  are  quite  a  family,"  he  said.  Every  year  he  gives  a  small 
entertainment  to  which  the  whole  staff  is  invited,  and  at  which 
there  is  music  and  tea.  Last  year,  at  a  gathering  of  this  kind, 
Mr.  Hardman  gave  his  men  an  account  of  his  recent  travels  in 
Australia  and  New  Zealand — an  interesting  subject,  since  these 
countries  are  great  markets  for  this  industry.  Orders  are 
executed  for  Sydney,  Melbourne,  Wellington,  etc.,  and  here  too 
the  export  trade  is  the  chief  stay  of  this  industry. 

In  spite  of  this,  however,  the  demand  increases  only 
gradually.  Stained -glass  windows  and  other  artistic  objects 
are  not  ordered  in  large  quantities  like  objects  in  common  use. 
Hence,  no  doubt,  the  moderate  use  of  apprenticeship.  It  is 
not  to  the  employer's  interest  to  multiply  to  excess  the 
number  of  young  men  he  trains,  for  he  is  never  tempted  to 
over-production,  and  if  he  were  unable  to  keep  on  any  of  his 
apprentices  when  they  became  fully  qualified  workmen,  they 
would  put  the  artistic  education  they  had  received  from  him 
at  the  service  of  competing  firms.  Thus  this  industry,  by  the 
very  nature  of  its  product,  is  assured  against  the  variations 
which  affect  the  industries  of  ordinary  consumption.  There 

H 


98  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PARTI 

is  no  need  for  a  powerful  organisation  of  the  men,  as  among 
the  glassworkers,  to  limit  the  number  of  apprentices,  for  the 
number  is  limited  by  the  very  nature  of  the  case. 

All  these  details  show  how  much  is  required  from  an 
employer  capable  of  carrying  on  a  business  of  this  kind — artistic 
feeling,  capacity  for  direction,  and  commercial  aptitudes.  Less 
than  this  would  be  enough  to  prevent  any  chance  workman, 
however  clever,  from  going  into  business  on  his  own  account. 
A  manufactory  can  only  be  started  by  the  initiative  of  an 
exceptional  man. 

Further,  only  skilled  workmen  are  turned  out,  as  we 
remarked  when  we  saw  them  at  work.  The  scale  of  wages 
which  Mr.  Hardman  gave  me  more  than  proves  this.  His 
men  get  from  30s.  to  £5  a  week.  Such  a  margin  enables  an 
employer  to  appreciate  and  remunerate  all  degrees  of  skill, 
from  that  of  the  solderer  to  that  of  the  designer  and  painter. 
Such  variations  of  wages  never  occur  in  factories  where  the 
whole  duty  of  the  worker  is  to  tend  a  machine. 

The  industries  just  examined  form,  as  a  whole,  a  picture 
on  which  it  is  pleasant  to  gaze.  They  constitute  a  limited 
group  whither  the  general  agitation  hardly  penetrates.  The 
workers  appear  satisfied,  and  their  relations  with  their  employers 
are  marked  by  mutual  good-will.  Nevertheless,  this  state  of 
internal  peace  is  not  in  the  least  due  to  stagnation.  On  the 
contrary,  these  are  growing  industries,  directed  by  men  who 
have  the  energy,  the  desire  for  improvement,  and  the  enter- 
prise necessary  to  push  them  onward. 

The  workers  too,  as  a  body,  are  impelled  along  the 
same  line  of  progress.  In  the  industries  engaged  in  the  pro- 
duction of  luxuries,  the  craftsman's  hand  can  never  be  wholly 
replaced  by  machinery,  for  it  is  essential  to  the  artistic  finish. 
The  future  consequently  belongs  to  those  men  whose  skill  and 
taste  are  the  most  highly  developed,  and  this  is  what  the 
master  aims  at  cultivating  in  his  staff.1 

While  industries  engaged  in  the  production  of  articles  of 

1  At  South  Kensington  Museum,  thanks  to  Mr.  Alan  S.  Cole,  director  of  the 
Science  and  Art  Department,  I  was  shown  a  series  of  designs  sent  in  to  the 
annual  competition  by  Birmingham  craftsmen.  Some  of  these,  which  were  due 
to  the  personal  inspiration  of  the  designers,  gave  evidence  of  a  really  culti- 
vated taste. 


CHAP,  in  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  99 

ordinary  consumption  are  in  constant  danger  of  seeing  their 
methods  overturned  by  machinery,  the  industries  engaged  in 
the  production  of  luxuries  are  but  little  affected  by  the 
industrial  evolution,  and  remain  in  the  possession  of  hand 
'workers.  But  on  another  side  they  are  affected  in  a  very 
marked  degree  by  the  commercial  evolution,  and,  as  we  have 
seen,  to  their  own  advantage.  The  greater  facility  of  relations 
with  foreign  countries  opens  a  larger  market,  while  the  general 
increase  in  wealth  enables  a  larger  number  of  people  to 
purchase,  and  this  extension  takes  place  without  any  rude 
shocks,  under  the  direction  of  capable  masters  with  capable  men. 
But  the  industries  engaged  in  the  production  of  luxuries 
are  not  the  only  ones  which  have  been  much  affected  by  the 
commercial  evolution,  while  little  modified  by  the  industrial 
evolution.  Side  by  side  with  these,  a  less  fortunate  group 
merits  our  attention. 

II.    The  Production  of  Low-class  Articles  under  Incompetent 
Management. 

The  Sweating  System. 

There  is  a  whole  category  of  trades  performed  by  hand 
which,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  tools  employed,  have 
remained  faithful  to  the  ancient  type,  and  which  are  practised 
by  skilled  workmen,  but  which  have  become  the  victims  of 
the  evil  known  as  the  sweating  system. 

The  term  suggests  an  idea  of  hardship  and  exploitation. 
It  represents,  not  a  definite  form  of  suffering,  but  a  sum  of 
abnormal  conditions,  unhealthy  workshops,  excessive  hours  of 
labour,  inadequate  wages,  etc.  It  arises,  not  from  any  passing 
cause,  but  from  a  permanent  condition,  and  from  a  funda- 
mentally wrong  constitution  of  the  trade,  which  exposes  the 
worker  to  a  crowd  of  evils  without  any  protection  whatever. 

Its  two  most  distinctive  characters,  then,  are  the  great 
number  of  different  trades  victimised  and  the  chronic  state 
of  ill-being  which  is  the  result. 

The  sweating  system  assumes  a  multitude  of  forms.  In 
the  clothing  trade  the  tailor  who  gives  out  work  at  low  rates, 
instead  of  executing  orders  on  his  own  premises,  practises 
sweating.  The  same  thing  is  done  by  the  large  shops  which 


ioo  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

give  dressmaking  to  poor  women  who  are  obliged  to  do  their 
work  at  home  in  order  to  attend  to  their  house  and  children. 
Both  exploit  the  situation,  that  is  to  say,  they  take  advantage 
of  the  destitution  of  those  who  apply  to  them  in  order  to  pay 
lower  and  lower  wages.  For  one  poverty-stricken  woman  who 
refuses  to  work  herself  blind  by  stitching  for  hours  to  earn  a 
few  pence,  there  are  two  others  still  more  abjectly  poor  who 
will  accept  the  terms.  In  the  furniture  trade  the  man  who 
has  made  a  chest  or  a  cupboard  at  home,  and  who  has  procured 
the  wood  and  varnish  on  credit,  and  who  is  also  hungry  and 
in  debt  for  his  rent,  is  obliged  to  put  the  furniture  on  a  truck 
and  take  it  to  a  big  emporium  in  Curtain  Eoad,  where  it  is 
bought  and  paid  for  in  ready  money  at  a  low  rate — and  this 
too  is  sweating.  Another  victim  is  the  small  shoemaker  with 
no  custom,  who,  when  the  leather-seller  refuses  further  credit, 
or  an  apprentice  asks  his  trifling  wage,  is  obliged  to  take  half 
a  dozen  pairs  of  boots  to  the  wholesale  shop  to  satisfy  his 
creditors. 

It  would  be  easy  to  multiply  examples,  but  these  are 
enough  to  show  that  sweating  is  not  confined  to  a  single  trade. 
They  also  point  to  the  second  characteristic  I  alluded  to,  the 
chronic  nature  of  the  system.  The  man  without  a  fair  start, 
who  is  driven  by  necessity  to  carry  his  work  to  the  wholesale 
dealer  as  fast  as  it  is  finished,  is  at  the  mercy  of  every  vicissi- 
tude, and  will  often  find  his  way  back  to  the  wholesale  shop, 
where  he  pawns  rather  than  sells  his  goods.  The  needlewoman 
who  is  perpetually  competing  with  all  the  other  needy  women 
of  a  large  town  will  never  get  a  remunerative  price  for  her 
work.  Further,  the  sweating  system  is  organised  and  in 
uninterrupted  swing ;  it  is  provided  with  organs,  it  has  its  sale- 
rooms and  its  recognised  middlemen.  Curtain  Eoad,  in  London, 
is  lined  with  general  shops  for  the  sale  of  furniture  and  boots 
and  shoes,  while  in  Paris  the  huge  maisons  de  nouveautes,  and 
the  weekly  Saturday  fair  of  the  Avenue  Ledru-Kollin,  play 
the  same  part.  Sweating  is  as  much  a  chronic  condition  as 
improvidence  and  poverty  in  those  grades  where  improvidence 
and  poverty  are  the  general  rule. 

God  knows  that  this  is  the  case  in  the  East  End.  There 
is  no  need  to  push  an  inquiry  very  far  to  be  assured  on  this 
point ;  it  is  quite  enough  to  walk  at  broad  noonday  in  White- 


CHAP,  in  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  101 

chapel  or  about  Tower  Hill.  A  population  in  abject  poverty, 
squalid,  wan,  and  forbidding  in  appearance,  seethes  in  the 
narrow,  dirty,  muddy,  reeking  streets.  I  was  at  an  open-air 
market  in  a  lane  off  Commercial  Street.  Every  sort  of 
merchandise,  especially  food,  was  exposed  for  sale  under 
temporary  awnings,  and  was  purchased  by  the  women  of  the 
neighbourhood.  It  was  a  painful  sight  to  see  the  repulsive 
appearance  of  these  women,  with  their  bloated,  disfigured  faces, 
often  diseased  or  withered,  and  almost  all  bearing  the  evident 
brand  of  vice  and  degradation.  The  impression  was  confirmed 
by  their  dress.  They  wore  ragged  garments,  third  or  fourth 
hand,  which  had  doubtless  been  worn  by  some  woman  of  the 
middle  class  till  they  were  shabby,  and  then  handed  on  to  the 
servants,  descending  finally,  when  they  were  worn  out,  to  their 
present  wearers.  Every  article  in  the  costume  had  had  a 
different  origin,  and  strange  medleys  were  produced,  thanks  to 
the  English  love  of  brilliant  colours.  One  toilette  which  I 
noticed  consisted  of  a  violet  skirt  and  a  bodice  of  brown  plush, 
over  which  was  thrown  a  crochet  shawl  of  bright  red,  which 
went  sufficiently  badly  with  the  rest.  Notwithstanding  the 
stains  and  the  countless  holes  and  the  frayed  edges,  the  violet 
silk  skirt  still  shot  brilliant  flashes  here  and  there.  Add  to 
the  picture  unkempt  hair,  an  absence  or  insufficiency  of  under- 
linen  which  betrayed  itself  where  a  button  was  missing  or 
through  tell-tale  rents,  filthy  hands  and  face,  boots  down  at 
the  heel,  everything  proclaiming  aloud  the  most  abject  poverty 
and  the  total  absence  of  care  and  self-respect.  To  add  to  the 
horror  of  the  general  effect,  many  women  wore  frowsy  wigs, 
generally  put  on  awry !  I  was  informed  that  this  ornament 
is  peculiar  to  Polish  Jewesses,  whose  rites  oblige  them  to  shave 
their  heads  when  they  marry.  Jews  are  very  numerous  in 
the  East  End,  and  it  is  chiefly  among  them  that  the  sweating 
system  finds  hands,  more  especially  in  the  clothing  trade. 

About  the  doors  of  public-houses,  especially  on  Saturdays, 
may  be  seen  crowds  of  persons  of  whom  a  considerable  number 
are  women.  Drink  is  a  ceaseless  cause  of  physical  and  moral 
degradation,  poverty,  and  irremediable  ruin.  It  is  only  neces- 
sary to  enter  any  one  of  the  lanes  which  branch  off  from  the 
main  streets  to  convince  oneself  that  vice  is  in  its  element. 
On  the  doorsteps  of  the  little,  mean,  narrow  houses  where 


102  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

families  are  crowded  together  higgledy  -  piggledy,  many  a 
wretched  creature  may  be  seen  like  those  just  described.  The 
majority  of  them  have  no  regular  occupation.  At  a  pinch 
they  will  go  into  a  factory,  but  they  cannot  be  got  to  stay. 
The  least  degraded  go  to  swell  the  number  of  the  sweated. 

Even  this  is  not  the  most  pitiful  sight  of  the  East  End, 
for  it  is  still  more  heartrending  to  see  children  growing  up 
in  such  surroundings.  Unhappy  little  creatures,  in  rags  and 
tatters,  running  barefoot  on  the  muddy  or  frozen  stones ! 
In  the  damp  climate  of  London  this  material  destitution 
assumes  a  character  of  its  own.  It  is  not  the  indifference  of 
the  Neapolitan  lazzarone,  abandoning  himself  to  a  genial  and 
easy  climate,  but  the  privation  of  a  multitude  of  necessities 
which  thwarts  and  injures  development.  In  order  to  live  in 
England,  warm  garments,  dry  shoes,  and  a  substantial  diet  are 
necessary.  All  these  are  lacking,  more  or  less,  in  the  case  of 
these  wretched  creatures,  even  if  we  leave  out  of  consideration 
the  unhealthiness  of  the  hovels  which  shelter  them,  and  the 
effects  of  atavism  of  which  they  reap  the  sad  inheritance.  In 
truth,  the  population  of  East  London,  handicapped  by  want  of 
air  and  food,  burnt  up  by  drink  and  exhausted  by  vice,  gives 
birth  to  offspring  without  vigour.  I  have  been  informed  that 
a  physician  attached  to  a  London  hospital  had  never  in  the 
course  of  his  experience  met  with  a  single  individual  born  of 
two  generations  of  pure  Londoners.  The  vital  powers  are 
exhausted  in  the  conditions  to  which  the  working-class  popula- 
tion is  exposed.  An  individual  whose  grandparents  and  parents 
were  all  Londoners  showed  as  a  rule  well-marked  symptoms 
of  rickets.  It  is  not  easy  to  measure  the  results  of  the  moral 
atmosphere  in  which  these  poor  children  grow  up,  but  the 
statistics  of  crime  are  an  index. 

It  is  in  the  depressing  surroundings  of  East  London  that 
the  sweating  system  has  taken  root  most  firmly  and  flourishes 
best.  The  name  was  first  applied  to  the  Jewish  tailors  of 
the  quarter  who  gave  out  work  to  be  done  at  home,  but  it  has 
been  extended  to  cover  a  number  of  other  cases,  for,  as  we 
have  seen,  a  variety  of  different  industries  have  become  its 
prey. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  none  of  the 
industries  which  suffer  are  universally  affected.  There  are 


CHAP,  in  IN  SMALL   WORKSHOPS  103 

plenty  of  tailors,  shoemakers  and  cabinetmakers  in  London 
who  escape.  In  the  first  place,  there  is  the  fashionable 
tailor,  who  obtains  a  high  price  for  his  cut,  and  who  executes 
orders  in  his  own  workroom  under  his  direct  supervision. 
In  the  same  category  are  included  the  elegant  West  End 
shoemaker  and  the  first-class  cabinetmaker.  All  these  are 
producing  articles  of  luxury.  Then  we  have  the  large  manu- 
factories in  the  boot  and  furniture  trades,  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  either  of  complete  boots  or  furniture,  or  else  of 
some  particular  parts.  Here,  too,  sweating  is  unknown.  The 
men  are  collected  in  large  groups  under  the  control  of  a  rich 
employer,  are  assisted  by  machinery,  and  come  under  the  type 
of  the  factory  hand,  whom  we  shall  study  in  the  third  part  of 
this  work.  If  they  think  they  have  any  grievance,  they  can 
strike  suddenly  and  in  a  body,  and  compel  attention  to  their 
demands.  Further,  the  factory  is  subject  to  severe  police 
regulations  as  to  sanitary  condition,  and  consequently  they  are 
certain  of  working  under  hygienic  conditions.  Legislation  also 
protects  women  and  children  employed  in  factories  against 
excessive  hours  of  labour.  In  short,  although  no  law  limits 
the  hours  of  work  for  adult  males,  yet,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  no 
large  employer  of  labour  keeps  his  hands  at  work  more  than 
ten  or  twelve  hours  a  day,  while  in  small  tailoring  establish- 
ments a  day  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  hours  is  common  when  there 
is  any  pressure,  and  the  poor  needlewomen,  shoemakers,  or 
cabinetmakers,  who  do  their  work  at  home,  often  work  all 
night  to  finish  a  piece  of  work  and  buy  the  much -needed 
bread. 

Thus,  in  the  trades  affected  by  sweating,  neither  the  estab- 
lishments producing  a  costly  article  nor  the  large  factory  are 
touched.  Where  it  is  felt  is  in  the  manufacture  of  low-class 
goods  made  in  the  small  workshop  or  at  home. 

Every  one  is  agreed  that  the  sweating  system  is  the  result 
of  the  small  workshop  and  of  home  work,  but  this  assertion  is 
obviously  too  wide,  and  my  readers  will  not  be  satisfied  with 
it  if  they  bear  in  mind  Brown's  forge  in  Birmingham,  the 
cutlery  workshops  in  Sheffield,  and  the  jewellery  manufactories. 
The  few  women  who  still  make  hand  -  made  lace,  and  the 
female  workers  employed  in  making  fine  linen,  are  not  liable 
to  sweating  either ;  and  in  their  case,  as  we  have  seen,  there  is 


104  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

•a  deficiency  not  of  work,  but  of  workers.  They  are  paid 
moderately  high  prices,  but  very  few  are  still  capable  of  the 
artistic  work  required. 

Before  giving  a  sweeping  verdict  against  home  work  and 
the  small  workshop,  we  must  recollect  that  the  fact  of  setting 
up  business  at  home  and  of  becoming  a  principal  on  a  small 
scale,  instead  of  a  mere  wage -earner,  has  always  been  con- 
sidered as  an  advance,  as  a  step  forward,  and  that  wherever  a 
worker  has  had  it  in  his  power  to  reach  this  degree  of  inde- 
pendence he  has  done  so.  Gutteridge  and  Thorn  have  proved 
it  for  us,  and  the  inferior  condition  of  the  factory  workers  at 
the  beginning  of  the  present  century  shows  clearly  that  the 
elite  of  the  workers  were  then  organised  in  small  workshops 
or  worked  at  home.  It  was  not  until  the  competition  of 
machinery  had  definitely  killed  hand  -  loom  weaving  that 
weavers  betook  themselves  to  the  factory. 

Now  here,  obviously,  the  tools  employed  admit  of  the 
small  workshop — for  it  exists — but  they  also  admit  of  the 
prosperous  small  workshop,  for  all  the  small  workshops  and 
all  those  engaged  in  working  at  home  are  not  victims  of 
sweating  even  in  the  industries  most  affected. 

Let  us  take  cabinet-making  as  an  example.  Mr.  Ernest 
Aves,  who  has  published  a  detailed  inquiry  into  this  trade  in 
Mr.  Charles  Booth's  great  work,  estimates  the  proportion  of 
cabinetmakers  of  all  sorts  working  in  the  East  End  in  small 
workshops  averaging  five  persons  at  80  per  cent.1  This  leaves 
only  20  per  cent  for  three  or  four  factories  employing  from 
fifty  to  a  hundred  and  ninety  men,  and  for  a  certain  number 
of  important  manufactories  employing  from  fifteen  to  twenty- 
five  men.  Here,  then,  is  a  trade  where  the  small  workshop  is 
far  the  most  common  case,  and  we  already  know  what  ravages 
sweating  works  there,  but  the  evil  does  not  extend  to  the 
whole  trade. 

In  company  with  Mr.  Aves  I  visited  several  cabinet- 
makers in  the  East  End.  I  remember  one  in  particular,  a 
father  working  with  his  four  children,  who  was  far  from  ex- 
citing pity.  He  was  not  an  artist,  he  was  making  ordinary 
furniture  of  good  quality,  especially  those  bedroom  cupboards 
one  side  of  which  forms  a  wardrobe,  while  the  other,  which 
1  Labour  and  Life  of  the  People,  vol.  i.  pp.  326,  327. 


CHAP,  in  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  105 

is  generally  covered  with  a  looking-glass,  forms  a  cupboard 
with  shelves.  His  house  adjoined  his  workshop,  which  was  a 
long  wooden  shed  built  among  the  out-buildings.  He  paid  £45 
a  year  for  the  lot,  but  finding  himself  rather  short  of  room,  he 
had  rented  at  a  little  distance  some  small  premises  which 
served  as  a  shop.  By  means  of  this  extra  outlay  in  rent  he 
was  able  to  keep  a  fair  amount  of  furniture  in  stock,  and  to 
wait  for  a  favourable  opportunity  to  dispose  of  it.  This  man 
escaped  sweating ;  the  wholesale  shops  had  no  hold  over  him, 
and  if  he  treated  with  them  it  was  on  equal  terms.  Of 
course  he  had  a  little  capital,  he  was  not  in  debt  to  the  timber 
merchant,  he  could  afford  to  wait  for  the  return  on  his  work 
and  could  advance  his  men  their  wages,  nay,  he  had  even 
burdened  himself  with  a  sensible  increase  in  his  rent  to  store 
his  unsold  furniture.  In  short,  he  was  an  efficient  business 
man,  fit  to  be  at  the  head  of  a  concern. 

A  second,  a  very  good  workman  and  a  skilful  carver, 
employed  three  men  including  his  two  sons.  He  complained 
greatly  of  the  falling  off  of  the  trade.  "  No  one  wants  first- 
class  work,"  he  said ;  "  cheapness  is  everything,  and  men  like 
me  who  make  no  rubbish  have  enough  to  do  to  get  along. 
There  is  a  carved-wood  chimney-piece  yonder  which  I  have 
had  more  than  a  year  without  being  able  to  get  it  off  my 
hands."  He  pointed  out  to  us  two  heads,  inartistic  in  design 
but  admirable  in  execution,  supporting  a  chimney-piece  sur- 
mounted by  a  large  panel.  Such  articles  do  not  belong  to 
the  regular  trade,  and  a  man  who  makes  them,  except  to  order, 
must  have  a  sufficient  margin  of  capital  to  enable  him  to  wait 
for  a  considerable  time  for  the  price  of  his  work.  Our  friend 
was  not  in  this  position  ;  his  shop  was  moderately  bare,  and  he 
admitted  himself  discontented  with  his  position.  This  is  a 
man  who  has  gone  into  business  on  his  own  account  too  soon, 
and  if  the  kind  of  furniture  he  makes  were  of  the  kind  sold 
in  Curtain  Road,  he  would  lay  himself  open  to  sweating.  How- 
ever, wholesale  houses  do  not  care  to  burden  themselves  with 
costly  articles,  preferring  to  buy  poor  work,  which  has  an 
easier  sale.  The  small  maker  of  expensive  articles,  who 
is  unable  to  maintain  his  position  as  an  employer  of  labour, 
is  forced  to  give  up  business,  a  course  which  the  man  in  ques- 
tion was  preparing  to  take.  He  is  so  conscious  of  the  draw- 


106  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

backs  of  his  position  that  he  is  trying  to  fit  his  children  for 
something  else.  The  youngest,  who  is  the  best  carver,  is  at 
present  working  in  a  school  to  qualify  himself  for  a  situation 
as  clerk. 

In  a  lane  quite  close  to  the  large  shops  of  Curtain  Eoad  is 
a  small  workshop,  consisting  of  a  master  and  three  men.  The 
house  is  two  storeys  high  and  built  of  brick.  All  the  ground 
floor  is  devoted  to  cabinet-making  proper.  Above,  there  are 
two  small  rooms,  one  used  as  a  shop  and  the  other  for  uphol- 
stering. Chairs,  arm-chairs,  and  sofas  are  made,  and  they  leave 
the  frame  bare,  fit  the  springs,  or  finish  them  completely, 
according  to  the  orders.  The  furniture  is  of  ordinary  quality, 
and  has  a  ready  sale.  The  master  has  the  control  of  slender 
but  sufficient  resources,  he  keeps  only  a  small  stock,  but  he 
does  not  suffer  from  sweating  in  any  marked  degree,  and  main- 
tains an  equilibrium  between  his  capital  and  the  nature  of  his 
enterprise. 

In  short,  sweating  does  not  occur  either  among  capable 
masters  or  even  among  incapable  ones  who  turn  out  expensive 
articles.  The  first  hold  their  own  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
sweating  system ;  the  second  disappear  without  being  able  to 
avail  themselves  of  it  for  a  precarious  existence,  being  excluded 
from  its  sphere  of  influence  by  the  very  nature  of  the  articles 
they  manufacture. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  sweating  system  reigns  triumphant 
where  inefficient  individuals  produce  at  their  own  expense 
ordinary  articles  of  inferior  quality.  Both  these  two  condi- 
tions must  be  present — incapable  masters  and  indifferent  work. 

How  then,  it  remains  to  discover,  can  incapable  masters 
maintain  themselves  at  the  head  of  workshops,  no  matter  on 
how  small  a  scale  ?  Why  do  they  not  disappear  before  the 
competition  of  competent  masters  as  they  do  under  the  factory 
system,  and  as  we  have  just  found  that  they  do  in  the  manu- 
facture of  luxuries  ? 

Here  we  put  our  finger  on  the  root  of  the  matter.  There 
exists  in  the  industries  liable  to  sweating,  in  cabinet-making 
in  particular,  a  sum  of  conditions  which  determine  the  exist- 
ence of  an  abnormal  type  of  master,  whom  we  may  call  the 
penniless  employer. 

Le  Play  justly  applied  the  term  "  penniless  landowner  "  to 


CHAP,  in  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  107 

the  rural  landowner  placed  in  conditions  such  that  he  could  not 
turn  his  bit  of  land  to  good  account.  The  master  with  whom 
we  are  concerned  is  a  master  who  cannot  turn  his  trade  to 
profit  in  the  ordinary  way.  He  has  not  the  necessary  means : 
he  is  a  penniless  employer. 

The  circumstances  which  give  birth  to  this  type  of  penniless 
employer  fall  under  two  heads,  and  their  tendency  is  to  make 
it  extremely  easy  for  a  workman  to  set  up  as  a  master. 

The  first  and  least  obvious  cause  is  the  division  of  labour 
resulting  from  the  use  of  machinery.  The  cabinetmaker 
used  formerly  to  make  the  whole  piece  of  furniture  himself 
in  a  small  workshop,  receiving  his  raw  material  in  the  form  of 
planks  or  unsawn  timbers.  Consequently  his  task  was  a  long 
one,  and  he  needed  money  in  hand  in  order  to  live  while  he 
executed  it,  as  well  as  for  a  second  purpose.  All  respectable 
houses  laid  in  large  stocks  of  wood,  in  order  to  supply  sound 
articles  which  would  not  shrink,  and  consequently  the  master 
cabinetmaker  had  to  allow  a  considerable  sum  for  this  purpose. 
To-day  all  that  is  changed.  There  are  large  steam  sawmills 
in  the  East  End  which  execute  rapidly  and  cheaply  .a  great 
deal  of  the  preparatory  work,  whether  rough  or  fine.  They  will 
cut  undressed  timber  into  stout  planks,  or  make  sixty  sheets 
of  veneer  from  a  mahogany  plank  an  inch  thick.  With  small 
circular  saws  they  cut  out  any  shape  of  which  a  pattern  is 
supplied.  The  motive  power  which  drives  them  also  controls 
turning  lathes,  on  which  are  turned  and  modelled  table  legs 
and  the  columns  and  pilasters  which  enter  into  the  ornamenta- 
tion of  a  great  deal  of  furniture.  Consequently  the  cabinet- 
maker profits  -by  the  proximity  of  the  sawmills  for  many 
details.  Sometimes  he  gives  an  order  to  the  manufacturer; 
sometimes,  and  this  is  the  usual  case,  he  rents  a  bench  and 
goes  there  to  work,  availing  himself  of  the  motive  power  put 
at  his  disposition.  A  score  of  important  establishments,  and 
a  hundred  on  a  more  modest  scale,  let  benches  to  the  cabinet- 
makers of  the  East  End.  Generally  the  same  mills  also  do 
work  to  order,  chiefly  sawing  jobs.  As  a  type  of  an  important 
sawmill,  Mr.  Aves  cites  one  where  the  owner  employs  thirty 
men  and  lets  the  use  of  the  motive  power  to  one  hundred  and 
twenty  others.1  But  whatever  the  combination  employed  by 

1  Labour  and  Life  of  the  People,  vol.  i.  p.  321. 


io8  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  i 

the  cabinetmaker,  whether  he  gives  out  jobs  or  whether  he 
goes  to  the  mill  himself  to  perform  certain  parts  of  his  work, 
the  total  operation  of  making  furniture  is  performed  far  more 
rapidly  than  formerly.  Much  less  time  elapses  between  the 
purchase  of  the  raw  material  and  the  delivery  of  the  finished 
article,  and  consequently  the  cabinetmaker  requires  much  less 
capital.  This  is  not  all.  Many  of  the  mills  belong  to  timber 
merchants,  who  offer  to  supply  the  cabinetmaker  with  parts  of 
his  work  ready  made,  and  keep  in  stock  those  most  in  demand. 
This  is  far  more  convenient  than  the  old  plan  of  keeping  a 
stock  of  wood.  The  maker  of  expensive  furniture,  who  must 
have  dry  and  old  wood,  will  perhaps  remain  faithful  to  the 
old  custom  if  he  has  sufficient  capital,  but  the  majority  buy 
planks  dried  by  steam,  as  they  require  them,  from  some  timber 
merchant  who  owns  a  mechanical  saw,  and  supplies  them  in 
the  required  stage  of  preparation.  The  custom  of  buying 
wood  at  the  time  it  is  to  be  used  is  now  so  general  among 
cabinetmakers  that  a  retail  trade  has  grown  up  to  accommodate 
them.  The  wholesale  merchant  sells  for  cash,  or  perhaps  gives 
credit  to  persons  whom  he  can  trust,  while  the  small  retail 
merchant  supplies  to  cabinetmakers  without  capital  the  parts  of 
the  piece  of  furniture  to  be  made,  and  waits  for  his  money  till 
it  is  sold.1  There  are  also  dealers  in  special  lines — twenty 
merchants  of  veneer,  for  instance — and  all  this  renders  it  less 
necessary  for  the  master  cabinetmaker  to  have  money  in  hand, 
and  makes  it  more  and  more  easy  for  anybody  to  start  for 
himself. 

Mr.  Aves  estimates  that  many  cabinetmakers  start  on  their 
own  account  with  a  capital  represented  by  £1  laid  out  in  tools 
and  £1  in  cash — £2  in  all.  With  double  this  sum  they  often 
employ  a  man  and  become  masters.2  Further,  there  is  a  class 
of  small  turners  and  cutters  who  undertake  to  execute  details 
which  cabinetmakers  leave  to  them,  and  these  are  the  principal 
persons  who  hire  the  motive  force  as  already  described.  Here, 
too,  very  little  capital  is  required  to  go  into  business,  and  the 
love  of  independence  leads  a  large  number  to  set  up  on  their 
own  account. 

Thus  the  division   of   labour   resulting  from  the  use   of 

1  Labour  aitd  Life  of  the  People,  vol.  i.  pp.  319,  320. 
2  Ibid.,  p.  323. 


CHAP,  in  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  109 

mechanical  force  has  given  the  penniless  employer  a  favourable 
chance  of  setting  up  for  himself  in  this  trade. 

A  second  circumstance,  acting  in  the  same  direction,  is  the 
increased  demand.  At  first  sight  it  would  seem  that  the  very 
opposite  ought  to  have  been  the  case,  and  that  it  is  the 
inevitable  tendency  of  a  foreign  custom  and  an  export  trade 
to  create  the  large  employer.  This  has,  in  fact,  occurred  in 
some  cases,  and  a  certain  number  of  large  furniture  manu- 
factories have  been  opened  in  the  last  forty  years,  but  only 
three  or  four  of  these  are  in  London,  and  the  rest  are  in  the 
country.  The  usual  result  has  been  the  creation  of  large 
trading  firms  to  meet  the  increased  demand,  and  these  firms 
act  as  middlemen  between  the  purchaser  and  the  small  work- 
shops. This  combination  is  the  result  of  an  economic 
phenomenon  which  is  not  difficult  to  grasp.  The  conditions  of 
labour  in  this  trade  make  it  easy,  as  we  have  seen,  for  the 
small  employer  to  start  in  business,  and  such  a  man  is  un- 
willing to  sink  to  the  level  of  a  mere  wage-earner,  except  in 
return  for  some  real  advantage.  Consequently  it  is  more 
profitable  to  buy  ready-made  furniture  from  him,  or  to  give 
him  an  order,  than  to  get  it  made  in  a  factory.  This  is  why 
the  furniture -dealer  prefers  to  remain  merely  a  distributor 
instead  of  becoming  a  producer,  and  this  is  how  the  great 
emporiums  of  Curtain  Road  have  taken  their  rise. 

These,  hi  their  turn,  help  the  small  workshop,  the  cabinet- 
maker who  works  at  home,  and  the  master  without  capital,  by 
furnishing  customers  ready  to  purchase  and  pay  ready  money. 
Thanks  to  them,  the  cabinetmaker  is  enabled  to  realise  at  once 
the  price  of  the  article  he  has  just  finished.  This  encourages 
him  to  start  business  before  he  has  the  capital  which  would 
enable  him  to  do  so  normally. 

The  sum  of  these  conditions  has  determined  the  general 
feature  of  the  sweating  system,  namely,  the  large  number  of 
penniless  employers. 

It  is  clear  that  a  man  without  means,  going  to  a  merchant 
to  sell  any  article  whatever,  is  in  the  most  disadvantageous 
position  which  it  is  possible  to  conceive.  He  must  have  money 
at  once,  and  the  merchant  treats  him  as  the  usurer  treats  the 
ruined  spendthrift. 

The  most  revolting  and  characteristic  form  of  sweating  is 


i  io  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PARTI 

that  popularly  called  "  hawking  "  in  the  East  End.  It  is  chiefly 
practised  by  those  who  employ  no  one  but  themselves.  When 
they  are  short  of  money  they  put  their  furniture  on  a  truck 
and  offer  it  for  sale  at  the  doors  of  wholesale  shops,  or  even  to 
passers-by.  About  Christmas,  when  work  is  slack  everywhere, 
and  when  every  Englishman  thinks  of  the  Christmas  pudding, 
offers  of  this  sort  are  more  frequent,  and  goods  are  sold  at 
two-thirds  of  their  value. 

This  intense  form  of  sweating  gives  rise  to  all  the  others. 
The  merchant  who  can  buy  on  such  terms  will  not  consent  to 
pay  high  prices  when  he  gives  an  order,  and  the  man  who 
executes  it  will  in  his  turn  underpay  his  workmen,  and  the 
wage  of  the  unskilled  labourer  will  be  depreciated  every- 
where. 

It  is  often  supposed  that  sweating  is  due  to  the  oppression 
of  an  inhuman  master,  but  this  is  only  its  outward  shape  and 
not  its  original  cause.  It  is  frequently  absent,  and  Mr.  Charles 
Booth  notes  that  in  the  trades  affected  by  sweating  masters 
have  as  a  rule  friendly  relations  with  their  men.1  There  is 
no  great  distance  between  them,  they  both  suffer  the  same 
evils,  and  they  are  bound  together  by  their  common  mis- 
fortune. 

Others,  who  have  taken  this  fact  into  consideration,  have 
generally  laid  the  responsibility  of  sweating  upon  the  middle- 
man, the  wholesale  dealer.  This  scapegoat  is  even  more  ill- 
chosen  :  he  profits  by  the  situation  but  does  not  create  it,  and 
this  I  think  I  have  shown  in  the  case  of  cabinet-making.  If  I 
had  chosen  a  different  trade  for  this  study  of  the  sweating 
system  my  conclusion  would  not  have  been  altered. 

In  the  boot  trade,  we  have  a  chain  of  phenomena 
absolutely  similar.  In  the  first  place,  the  whole  trade  does 
not  suffer  from  sweating :  the  small  workshop  only  is  affected, 
while  the  large  boot  factory  escapes.  Among  the  small  work- 
shops, again,  all  do  not  suffer,  only  those  with  penniless 
employers.  As  in  the  case  of  cabinet-making,  these  penniless 
masters  have  arisen  and  multiplied  owing  to  two  recent  causes. 
The  first  of  these  is  the  division  of  labour  due  to  the  introduc- 
tion of  machinery.  The  old  type  of  shoemaker,  who  bought  his 
stock  of  leather  and  made  the  whole  boot,  is  quite  the  excep- 

1  Labour  and  Life  of  the  People,  vol.  i.  pp.  491,  492. 


CHAP,  in  IN  SMALL   WORKSHOPS  in 

tion,  and  to-day  the  shoemaker  buys  ready-made  uppers  and 
sets  up  without  capital.  The  second  is  the  increased  demand, 
which  side  by  side  with  the  large  factory  has  created  the  large 
shop,  which  acts  as  a  middleman  between  the  purchaser  and 
the  small  workshop.  The  two  types  correspond  perfectly.1 

The  question  of  sweating  has  occupied  many  economists 
and  sociologists,  it  has  been  discussed  in  congresses,  pamphlets, 
and  large  works,  and  many  remedies,  generally  legislative, 
have  been  proposed.  The  wisest  minds  demand  a  severe 
system  of  inspection  of  the  hours  of  labour  for  women  and 
children,  and  of  the  sanitary  condition  of  small  workshops.  I 
do  not  deny  that  a  certain  number  of  cases  of  sweating  might 
be  reached  in  this  way,  but  it  is  easy  to  understand  that  it 
would  not  succeed  in  destroying  the  evil.  Mr.  Charles  Booth 
and  Miss  Beatrice  Potter  (Mrs.  Sidney  Webb),  who  are  well 
acquainted  with  the  subject  of  sweating,  consider  that  the 
present  inspection  is  insufficient,  and  that  no  appreciable 
result  can  be  obtained  till  the  responsibility  of  contravening 
the  law  is  made  to  rest  on  persons  who  have  more  to  lose 
than  the  small  employer.  Consequently,  they  propose  to 
strike  at  the  same  time  the  merchant  whose  orders  have 
caused  the  overwork  or  other  abuse  against  which  the  law  is 
directed  and  the  owner  on  whose  premises  it  takes  place.  The 
establishment  of  these  responsibilities  would  be  rendered 
easy  by  the  compulsory  registration  of  all  orders,  and  such 
registration  would  greatly  facilitate  the  task  of  the  inspector, 
who  at  present  has  to  discover  what  workrooms  he  should 
visit. 

All  this  is  ingenious,  and  I  am  far  from  despising  these 
police  measures.  They  have  their  value,  for  example,  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  hygiene  of  working-class  dwellings, 
which  amounts  to  saying  that  they  are  much  needed  in  the 
East  End,  but  I  do  not  think  they  would  succeed  in  remedying 
the  chief  feature  of  the  sweating  system,  the  insufficient 
remuneration  of  the  labourer. 

The  system  proposed  would  not  prevent  the  cabinetmaker 
who  works  at  home  on  his  own  account  from  hawking,  nor 

1  See  Life  and  Labour  of  the  People  for  a  study  of  Bootraaking  by  Mr.  David 
F.  Schloss  (vol.  i.  pp.  241-308).  On  the  question  under  discussion,  consult  in 
particular  pp.  245,  246,  247,  253,  254,  257,  258. 


112  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PARTI 

from  selling  at  a  low  price,  and  thus  at  the  same  time  de- 
preciating the  value  of  labour  in  his  own  trade  by  competing 
with  the  regular  factories.  It  would  not  deter  the  penniless 
employer  from  starting  in  business,  and  this,  as  we  have  said, 
is  the  characteristic  mark  of  the  sweating  system.  It  is 
obvious  that  he  would  not  be  touched,  and  also  that  he  cannot 
be  touched.  Xo  one  would  propose  to  prevent  a  free  citizen 
from  making  a  table  or  a  cupboard  if  he  chose,  nor  from  selling 
it  if  he  had  spent  his  last  penny. 

All  that  can  be  hoped  from  the  most  cleverly  devised 
system  of  regulation  is  to  render  the  establishment  of  small 
workshops  difficult,  but  inasmuch  as  it  cannot  do  away  with 
the  economic  conditions  which  allow  of  the  establishment  of 
the  incapable,  it  runs  the  risk  of  multiplying  the  number  of 
men  who  work  alone  and  are  condemned  to  hawking. 

It  is  true  that  by  killing  the  small  workshop  it  would 
indirectly  favour  the  creation  of  large  factories,  but  there  again 
the  present  practice  of  the  trade  offers  an  obstacle  to  the  aim 
of  the  reformers.  If  factories  pay  high  wages  they  will 
attract  workmen,  but  they  will  be  unable  to  struggle  against 
the  competition  of  the  cabinetmaker  working  at  home.  If 
they  pay  low  wages,  cabinetmakers  will  prefer  to  work  in 
their  own  homes.  If  a  man  gives  up  his  independence,  it  is 
because  he  is  tempted  by  some  compensation  for  a  state  of 
dependence.  After  all  the  legislation  proposed,  we  have  still 
to  face  the  same  fact. 

This  amounts  to  saying  that  no  police  regulations  can  do 
away  with  the  sweating  system,  which  is  the  result  of  technical 
conditions  allowing  the  penniless  employer  to  start  business, 
and  of  social  conditions  producing  indigence.  It  can  only  be 
thwarted  in  its  expansion,  like  prostitution,  vagrancy,  and 
drunkenness. 

However,  what  no  police  regulations  can  affect  will  perhaps 
be  accomplished  by  a  slight  modification  in  the  working  of  the 
trade.  Supposing  that  to-morrow  machinery  were  to  play 
the  principal  part  in  the  manufacture  of  furniture,  so  that 
this  industry  required  fewer  skilled  workmen,  as  has  already 
happened  in  so  many  other  industries,  the  factory  would 
straightway  kill  the  small  workshop,  the  men  who  work  at 
home,  and  sweating. 


CHAP,  in  IN  SMALL  WORKSHOPS  113 

When  that  day  comes  there  will  be  a  frightful  crisis  in 
East  London,  for  the  factories  will  be  set  up  far  from  the  great 
centres,  in  rural  or  suburban  districts,  where  land  is  cheaper. 
The  wave  of  the  unemployed  will  be  suddenly  swollen  in  the 
former  home  of  the  small  workshops.  Nevertheless  the  crisis 
will  be  a  happy  one.  It  will  divert  from  this  focus  of  poverty 
and  vice  the  ceaseless  influx  of  population,  and  it  will  power- 
fully aid  the  efforts  of  those  who  are  trying  to  develop  a 
healthier  physical  and  moral  atmosphere. 

Meanwhile  all  praise  is  due  to  those  courageous  spirits 
who  are  trying  to  bring  about  such  a  result.  Every  one  has 
heard  of  Toynbee  Hall  and  the  People's  Palace,  but  very  few 
know  of  a  crowd  of  other  active  institutions,  all  of  which  are 
endeavouring  to  give  to  the  inhabitants  of  East  London  a 
taste  for  decent  recreations,  and  to  awaken  in  them  a  desire 
to  elevate  themselves.  It  is  not  in  the  power  of  such 
agencies,  any  more  than  of  police  regulations,  to  give  a  sudden 
death-blow  to  the  lamentable  results  of  sweating,  but  while  the 
law  only  succeeds  in  preventing  the  external  manifestation  of 
certain  evils,  the  personal  ministry  of  men  who  devote  them- 
selves to  the  raising  of  their  fellows  puts  those  whom  it  touches 
beyond  the  reach  of  these  evils.  We  shall  return  at  the  end 
of  this  work  to  this  consoling  side  of  the  Labour  Question. 
Here  we  need  only  note  the  beneficent  influence  thus  exercised 
in  the  degraded  surroundings  where  sweating  is  rampant.  It 
goes  to  the  root  of  the  evil  by  reforming  these  surroundings, 
and  by  favouring  the  normal  development  of  capacity  of  every 
sort. 

The  great  lesson  derived  from  this  study  of  sweating  is 
that  nothing  can  absolve  the  workman  from  the  need  of 
personal  worth.  Even  where  the  material  conditions  of 
labour  make  it  easy  for  him  to  set  up  independently,  he  suffers 
cruelly  unless  he  has  the  qualities  necessary  for  such  independ- 
ence. That  is  the  philosophy  of  the  sweating  system  in  a 
nutshell. 

We  commend  this  reflection  to  the  generous  dreamers  who 
see  the  general  solution  of  the  Labour  Question  in  the  owner- 
ship of  the  means  of  production  by  the  workers.  Suppose  an 
upheaval  of  society  brought  about  this  condition  of  things,  and 
that  the  result  produced  here  through  natural  causes  were 

I 


H4  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PARTI 

obtained  artificially,  the  outcome  would  be  a  gigantic  sweating 
system.  For  true  independence,  there  is  something  more 
important  than  material  conditions,  and  that  is  the  qualities 
which  enable  a  man  to  retain  it.  In  the  course  of  this 
study  we  shall  see  that  such  independence  is  not  impossible 
for  the  worker  in  the  large  factory,  although  the  means  of  pro- 
duction do  not  belong  to  him. 


PART  II 

THE   LABOUR    QUESTION   IN   MINES 


INTRODUCTION 

A  SPECIAL  CASE  OF  EVOLUTION AN  INDUSTRY  ORGANISED  ON  THE 

MODERN  SYSTEM  AND  A  WORKER  OF  THE  ANCIENT  TYPE 

EVERY  one  is  aware  how  important  a  place  mining  occupies 
among  British  industries.  650,000  people  are  engaged  in  it, 
and  the  amount  of  coal  extracted  in  a  year  in  the  United 
Kingdom  represents  about  half  the  total  quantity  extracted 
over  the  whole  surface  of  the  globe.  Further,  the  Labour 
Question  has  there  assumed  a  peculiarly  acute  form.'  The 
miners'  strikes  have  been  among  the  most  numerous  and 
terrible,  and  the  miners'  Trade  Unions  are  remarkably  well 
organised  and  disciplined.  In  the  late  Parliament  the  miners 
were  represented  by  men  of  great  ability,  enlightened  champions 
of  the  claims  of  labour,  ex-miners  themselves,  who  had  hewed 
coal  in  the  collieries  of  the  Midlands  or  of  Northumberland, 
such  as  Thomas  Burt,  Parliamentary  Secretary  to  the  Board  of 
Trade,  John  Wilson,  C.  Fenwick,  B.  Pickard,  to  mention  only 
the  best  known.  This  alone  would  entitle  the  subject  of  mines 
to  a  special  study. 

Mining,  however,  must  be  examined  from  another  point  of 
view  in  the  series  of  trades  which  we  are  investigating.  It 
has  points  of  resemblance  not  only  to  the  small  trades  practised 
by  skilled  workmen,  but  also  to  the  factory  system.  The 
miner,  by  the  simplicity  of  the  tools  he  employs,  by  his 
conservative  training,  and  his  fidelity  to  his  trade,  belongs  to  the 
ancient  type,  while  on  the  other  hand  the  scientific  nature  of 
the  work  he  directs,  the  vast  capital  employed,  the  enormous 
clientele  served,  make  the  colliery  owner  a  representative  of  the 
modern  type,  like  the  employer  under  the  factory  system.  Thus 


Ii8  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  IN  MINES  PART  n 

mining  cannot  be  exactly  classed  either  with  the  trades  already 
studied  or  with  the  factory  system,  which  will  be  examined 
later.  It  holds  an  intermediate  place,  and  this  curious  dualism, 
this  contradiction  between  the  work  of  the  master  and  the  work 
of  the  men,  is  at  bottom  the  greatest  difficulty  in  the  conflicts 
arising  between  colliery  owners  and  their  men.  We  shall  find 
it  everywhere.  The  Labour  Question  here  assumes  a  special 
form,  and  encounters  difficulties  which  are  unknown  in  the 
same  degree  either  in  the  small  trades  or  under  the  factory 
system.  Here  as  elsewhere  the  organisation  depends  on  the 
conditions  of  labour,  but  nowhere  else  are  the  conditions  of 
labour  such  as  we  find  them  here.  It  is  important  in  the 
first  place  to  determine  them  carefully  by  examining  success- 
ively the  work  done  by  the  employed  and  the  work  done  by 
the  employer. 


CHAPTER    I 

WHY  THE  MINER  HAS  REMAINED  A  WORKER  OF  THE  ANCIENT  TYPE 

I.   The  Simplicity  of  the  Tools. 

THE  best  plan  is  to  see  the  worker  at  work,  and  this  can  be 
done  by  descending  the  nearest  coal-mine.  The  pit  to  which 
I  shall  conduct  the  reader  is  situated  in  the  Lothians.  I 
chose  it  only  because  I  have  monographed  a  miner  engaged  in 
this  colliery,  and  the  details  given  here  will  serve  to  complete 
the  description  of  the  type  which  I  shall  present  later. 

I  visited  White  Hill  Colliery  both  by  day  and  night,  in 
order  to  acquaint  myself  with  the  different  kinds  of  work  per- 
formed there.  The  mine  is  most  active  during  the  day,  from 
six  in  the  morning  to  three  in  the  afternoon.  In  the  galleries 
the  pony-drivers  guide  the  horses  which  drag  the  loads  of  coal 
to  the  shaft  opening.  These  drivers  are  lads  of  from  twelve 
to  sixteen,  and  only  a  little  attention  and  care  is  required  to 
execute  the  task  without  accident.  Waggons  which  have  to 
mount  galleries  at  a  steep  incline  are  pushed  by  men,  while 
others  descend  by  their  own  weight  on  an  endless  rope  system. 
The  men  employed  at  the  windlass  to  regulate  the  descent  of 
the  waggons  are,  like  the  pony-drivers,  possessed  of  no  great 
skill.  They  are  called  drawers,  a  term  which  indicates  with 
sufficient  justice  how  closely  their  function  approaches  that  of 
the  beast  of  burden.  Wherever  the  incline  is  too  steep  for 
horses,  or  wherever  the  gallery  is  too  low  to  permit  of  their 
free  movement,  they  are  replaced  by  drawers. 

Next  there  is  the  miner  properly  so  called,  the  man  who 
works  at  the  seam  of  coal.  His  work  is  more  or  less  that  of 


120  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

excavating  or  quarrying.  He  must  have  good  strong  muscles 
to  wield  his  pick,  and  sufficient  experience  to  know  the  best 
way  of  hewing  the  maximum  quantity  of  coal  in  the  minimum 
time.  He  is,  of  course,  paid  by  the  piece.  To  the  trucks  he 
fills  he  fastens  a  small  wooden  ticket  bearing  a  number  before 
he  transfers  them  to  the  drawers  or  pony-drivers,  and  by  this 
means  it  is  easy  to  estimate  his  work  when  the  coal  is  brought 
to  the  surface.  His  professional  skill  is  measured  by  the 
amount  of  coal  he  hews,  and  it  is  for  him  to  use  his  pick  to  the 
greatest  advantage.  I  saw  one  who  was  attacking  the  coal 
from  below.  His  method  was  to  make  a  trench  below,  and 
then  to  introduce  a  crowbar  between  the  topmost  layer  and  the 
superincumbent  rock.  He  then  brought  all  his  strength  to 
bear  upon  it  until  the  whole  thickness,  more  than  3  feet, 
yielded,  gave  way,  and  broke,  and  nothing  more  remained 
except  to  fill  the  trucks.  This  method  is  much  favoured  in 
the  White  Hill  Mine,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  coal  is  there 
almost  everywhere  enclosed  by  rock,  and  the  neighbourhood  of 
a  resisting  body  to  act  as  a  fulcrum  makes  it  possible  to 
detach  the  coal  by  the  use  of  a  lever,  which  cannot  be  done  in 
collieries  where  the  coal  rests  on  clay.  We  shall  see  further 
that  the  presence  of  rock  gives  the  White  Hill  Colliery  a 
special  character,  and  that  it  exercises  a  considerable  influence 
on  the  conditions  of  working. 

I  remained  for  some  time  near  two  other  miners  who  were 
working  at  the  bottom  of  a  sort  of  low  cul-de-sac.  My  guide 
and  I  crouched  in  a  sufficiently  uncomfortable  position  watching 
them  while  one  of  them  lay  on  his  side  to  undermine  the  coal 
with  his  pick,  and  the  other  prepared  to  bore  into  a  layer  of 
coal  preparatory  to  blasting  it.  The  lowness  of  the  gallery 
did  not  permit  of  the  process  of  crushing  which  we  had  just 
seen.  In  order  to  pierce  the  horizontal  cavity  for  the  powder 
as  rapidly  as  possible,  the  second  man  used  a  simple  and 
ingenious  instrument,  a  strong  drill,  to  which  the  requisite 
position  was  given  by  placing  it  on  double  iron  uprights  fitted 
with  a  rack,  and  clamped  to  the  rock  above  and  below.  Thus 
he  had  not  the  trouble  of  directing  his  drill,  and  all  his  strength 
was  available  for  using  a  handle  and  forcing  the  instrument 
into  the  coal. 

The  miner,  of  course,  pays  for  the  powder,  as  otherwise  he 


CHAP,  i  IN  MINES  121 

would  be  too  apt  to  make  it  replace  the  muscular  toil  required 
to  detach  coal  with  the  pick.  As  it  is,  it  is  for  him  to  judge 
whether  it  will  pay  to  use  powder.  At  White  Hill  the  employ- 
ment of  explosives  is  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  miner,  the 
absence  of  fire-damp  allowing  of  this  course.  The  instruments 
used,  pickaxe,  crowbar,  drill,  etc.,  are  the  miner's  own  property. 
Most  of  them  only  possess  a  pick  which  costs  5s.,  and  which 
requires  to  be  attended  to  about  once  a  fortnight  at  a  cost  of 
6d.  These  details  show  the  simplicity  of  the  miner's  outfit, 
which  may  easily  be  acquired  at  a  small  cost. 

Machinery  has,  however,  been  tried.  In  one  isolated  part 
two  men  were  at  work  with  the  aid  of  a  coal-cutting  machine 
— a  sort  of  wooden  frame  running  on  rails  by  means  of  four 
wheels,  and  bearing  on  one  of  its  sides  a  movable  horizontal  disk 
fitted  with  a  number  of  miner's  picks.  By  means  of  its  wheels 
and  the  rails  on  which  it  runs,  it  can  follow  the  direction  of  a 
gallery  already  opened,  and  can  perform  all  along  this  gallery 
the  sapping  work  which  we  saw  done  by  the  miner.  The 
horizontal  disk  fitted  with  picks  acts,  in  fact,  like  the  disk  of 
a  mechanical  saw.  The  coal-cutting  machine  I  saw  at  White 
Hill  Colliery  is  worked  by  means  of  compressed  air  conveyed 
through  indiarubber  tubing. 

The  two  miners  who  were  using  it  were  engaged  in  the 
task  of  sapping  about  60  yards  of  coal.  It  is  obvious  that 
this  machine  can  be  used  only  in  a  very  limited  number  of 
cases.  I  believe  the  one  I  saw  is  the  only  one  in  use  in  White 
Hill  Colliery,  which  employs  about  300  men.  Further, 
although  it  gets  through  a  great  amount  of  work  when  once 
set  in  movement,  it  requires  from  the  men  in  charge  of  it  a 
quantity  of  preliminary  precautions  involving  considerable 
muscular  labour  on  their  part.  First,  they  have  to  place  rails 
in  the  given  direction,  using  wedges  to  bring  them  to  the 
required  level,  owing  to  the  inequalities  of  the  ground,  and  to 
fix  them  by  means  of  wooden  sleepers  forced  between  the  two 
horizontal  walls ;  in  short,  to  construct  a  rough  but  solid 
miniature  railway.  Nor  are  they  at  the  end  of  their  trouble 
when  they  open  the  tap  admitting  the  compressed  air  and 
apply  a  mechanical  force  to  their  machine.  It  still  requires 
to  be  guided.  One  man  goes  in  front  and  one  behind,  and 
both  grip  with  all  their  strength  the  two  beams  which  form 


122  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

the  frame,  and  endeavour  to  diminish  the  terrible  vibration, 
which  shivers  rails,  wedges,  and  sleepers.  At  the  same  time 
they  have  to  watch  the  machine's  work,  and  be  sure  that  it  is 
cutting  deeply  enough  into  the  seam  of  coal.  Frequently  the 
man  in  the  rear  turns  off  the  compressed  air,  and  with  the  aid 
of  his  companion  devotes  himself  to  the  task  of  making  good 
the  damage  done  to  the  rails.  Both  are  dripping  with  sweat, 
for  the  work  is  extremely  laborious,  and  they  are  obliged  to 
crouch  the  whole  time  for  fear  of  striking  their  heads  against 
the  rock.  The  temperature  too  is  very  high,  and  their  work 
is  very  different  from  that  of  the  factory  hand  tending  a  machine 
without  any  muscular  fatigue  in  a  large  and  well- ventilated 
building. 

However,  a  revolution  would  be  effected  in  collieries  if  the 
coal-cutting  machine  were  to  come  into  general  use.  Skilled 
workmen  would  be  required  to  work  it,  but  the  number  would 
be  far  less  than  the  number  of  miners  now  required  to  produce 
a  given  quantity  of  coal.  It  is  useful,  therefore,  to  remark 
that  the  machine  can  only  be  employed  in  a  certain  limited 
number  of  cases,  and  in  galleries  of  sufficient  length,  which 
have  previously  been  opened  by  the  pick,  and  the  bottom  of 
which  is  exactly  on  the  same  level  as  the  lower  edge  of  the 
seam  of  coal.  The  most  characteristic  feature  of  the  mines  is 
that  the  coal  is  dispersed  in  irregular  seams,  that  it  is  constantly 
intermixed  with  rock,  clay,  and  other  impurities,  and  that  the 
miner's  pick  must  continually  be  wielded  with  discernment. 
The  machine  lacks  this  discernment,  it  is  essentially  blind, 
and  therefore  it  does  not  seem  likely  to  have  an  important 
future  in  the  extraction  of  coal.  In  any  case  its  role  at  the 
present  moment  is  a  negligible  quantity. 

The  pit  wears  a  very  quiet  aspect  during  the  work  of  the 
night-shift.  It  was  half-past  eight  in  the  evening  when  I  de- 
scended the  Eosewell  shaft.  Except  for  the  men  in  charge  of 
the  pumps  and  the  cages,  there  was  no  one  in  the  mine  but 
stone-workers  and  road-makers,  skilled  workmen  whose  task  is 
to  remove  the  stone  and  construct  the  galleries.  The  extraction 
of  coal  is  stopped,  and  nothing  is  done  but  road-making  and 
work  to  facilitate  the  transport  of  coal  to  the  foot  of  the  shaft. 
The  galleries  are  deserted.  The  manager,  who  conducted  me, 
led  me  to  the  stables  of  the  twelve  ponies  occupied  by  day  in 


CHAP,  i  IN  MINES  123 

transporting  the  trucks  of  coal ;  one  was  returning  from  work 
with  his  conductor,  the  others  had  gone  to  their  carefully 
vaulted  and  paved  subterranean  stable  when  the  men  employed 
in  the  day-shift  returned  to  the  surface.  We  reached  a  small 
yard  where  three  men  were  engaged  in  blasting  a  mass  of  rock 
in  the  upper  part  of  a  gallery  in  the  course  of  construction. 
The  two  youngest  took  it  in  turn  to  pierce  a  blast -hole  by 
means  of  a  powerful  drill.  The  elder  was  meanwhile  engaged 
in  making  cartridges  after  a  very  primitive  fashion.  Sheets 
of  newspaper  rolled  round  a  stick  formed  cylindrical  envelopes 
into  which  he  poured  the  powder.  When  the  blast-hole  had 
attained  the  right  depth  he  introduced  his  cylinders  of  powder, 
and  behind  them  a  long  thin  iron  rod  which  extended  beyond 
the  orifice.  His  place  was  then  taken  by  the  young  men,  who 
forced  a  clay  plug  into  the  hole  behind  the  charge,  and  rammed 
it  tight.  The  old  man  next  withdrew  the  iron  bar  and  replaced 
it  by  a  fuse,  to  the  end  of  which  he  set  fire  with  his  lamp. 
Then  he  seated  himself  several  yards  off  in  a  lateral  gallery, 
and  advised  us  to  follow  his  example.  At  the  end  of  a  couple 
of  minutes  the  explosion  took  place,  and  the  rock  split  horizon- 
tally, following  the  line  of  stratification.  The  nature  of  the 
rock  lends  itself  admirably  to  this  proceeding,  as  may  be  seen 
from  the  smooth  and  level  form  of  the  upper  boundary  of  most 
of  the  galleries  in  the  White  Hill  Colliery. 

The  stone-worker's  task  seems  very  simple,  but  it  requires 
great  experience  to  be  done  profitably.  The  object  is  not  to 
bring  down  much  rock,  but  to  make  an  opening  in  a  given 
direction  of  a  given  height  and  width.  It  is  impossible  to 
make  the  work  pay  without  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
nature  of  the  rock  and  the  probable  direction  of  the  seams  and 
fissures.  The  work  can  only  be  done  by  miners  who  have 
had  long  experience  in  extracting  coal,  and  who  possess  a  very 
superior  power  of  judgment.  Fisher,  the  Scottish  miner  whom 
I  have  monographed,  is  a  stone-worker  in  the  White  Hill  Mine. 
"  I  hewed  coal  for  twenty  years,"  he  told  me,  "  and  I  went 
through  every  variety  of  work  in  a  mine  before  I  was  fit  to  be 
a  stone- worker."  He  is  a  skilled  worker  of  skilled  workers. 

The  stone-worker,  then,  represents  the  aristocracy  of  the 
trade,  the  maximum  of  professional  capacity,  and  time  is 
required  to  reach  this  grade.  A  short  apprenticeship,  on  the 


124  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

other  hand,  is  enough  for  the  ordinary  miner.  According  to 
Mr.  Armstrong,  the  manager,  who  accompanied  me  through 
the  colliery,  a  miner  can  learn  his  trade  in  two  years. 
Apprenticeship  is  not  organised  and  made  compulsory  as  in 
many  of  the  small  trades  we  have  studied.  Muscular  force  is 
too  all-important  for  men  to  be  able  to  profit  by  their  superior 
experience  against  younger  men.  Further,  the  trade  is  learned, 
so  to  speak,  merely  by  seeing  it  done.  The  lad  who  goes  down 
into  the  mine  at  the  age  of  twelve  as  a  pony-driver  sees  the 
men  at  work,  he  often  helps  his  father  to  load  his  waggons, 
and  as  soon  as  he  feels  himself  strong  enough  to  wield  the  pick 
he  tries  his  hand  at  hewing  coal,  and  at  last  one  fine  day  he 
does  so  on  his  own  account  and  is  a  miner.  In  a  similar 
way  the  young  peasant  learns  to  plough,  to  mow,  and  to  reap : 
it  is  the  method  of  apprenticeship  suitable  to  very  simple  tasks. 

II.   The,  Miiner' 8  Trade,  is  Conservative. 

A  trade  so  easy  to  learn  lends  itself  admirably  to  family 
apprenticeship,  for  the  father  always  knows  enough  to  show 
his  son  how  to  set  about  it.  The  lad  will  succeed  well  or  ill 
according  to  the  development  of  his  muscles,  his  aptitude  for 
thinking  of  the  best  methods  of  hewing,  the  rapidity  of  his 
movements,  etc.  An  indifferent  navvy  can  teach  an  active 
and  vigorous  youth  the  handling  of  the  shovel  and  pickaxe, 
and  make  a  good  navvy  of  him.  A  miner  is  in  the  same 
position. 

Consequently  there  is  a  natural  tendency  for  a  miner  to 
teach  his  trade  to  his  son  and  to  take  him  down  into  the  mine 
with  him.  This  is  strengthened  by  the  circumstance  that  the 
miner  is  paid  by  the  piece,  and  not  by  time;  he  is  paid  so 
much  the  truck,  and  it  is  to  his  advantage  to  get  his  son's 
help  as  soon  as  he  reaches  the  age  of  twelve  or  thirteen. 
The  practice  is  so  usual  that  a  miner's  son  is  generally  from 
his  earliest  years  accustomed  to  underground  labour,  to  the 
dreaded  fire-damp,  and  to  the  heat  and  the  thick  air  of  the 
mine.  Thus,  unconsciously,  he  overcomes  the  obstacles  which 
would  deter  from  the  work  a  young  man  of  eighteen  or  twenty 
reared  outside  the  mining  districts. 

Stone-workers'  sons  also,  as  a  rule,  go  down  into  the  mine 


CHAP,  i  IN  MINES  125 

at  an  early  age.  Their  father  is  no  longer  merely  a  piece- 
worker like  the  ordinary  miner,  but  a  sort  of  small  contractor, 
who  can  give  work  not  merely  to  a  lad  of  fourteen  who  will 
help  him  to  load  his  truck,  but  to  a  couple  of  sturdy  lads  of 
eighteen.  The  man  we  saw  at  work  in  White  Hill  Colliery 
directed  a  gang  of  three  persons,  including  himself.  A  stone- 
worker,  a  friend  and  neighbour  of  Fisher's,  told  me  he  worked 
with  his  two  sons,  the  eldest  of  whom  was  nearly  eighteen. 
Thus  the  stone-worker  has  work  ready  for  his  boys ;  he  keeps 
them  with  him  as  long  as  they  find  the  partnership  advantage- 
ous, and  when  they  leave  him  they  can  engage  as  miners. 

The  pony-drivers  are  always  young  lads,  as  we  have  seen, 
and  preference  is  given  to  the  sons  of  men  already  engaged  in 
the  mine.  Further,  many  mining  villages  are  entirely  peopled 
by  miners'  families,  without  the  admixture  of  any  other  popula- 
tion. This  is  the  case  in  particular  at  Eosewell,  where  all  the 
houses,  excepting  the  churches  and  schools,  are  owned  by  the 
Lothian  Coal  Company,  who  work  the  White  Hill  Colliery. 
Consequently  the  lads  employed  in  the  mine,  who  are  of 
course  obliged  to  live  in  the  neighbourhood,  are  almost  always 
miners'  sons. 

It  is  not  merely  the  facility  of  finding  employment  near 
his  home  which  impels  the  miner's  son  to  embrace  his  father's 
profession.  There  is  also  the  advantage  of  soon  getting  good 
wages,  which  is  an  advantage  rare  in  any  other  industry.  At 
the  age  of  twelve  he  can  already  earn  from  2s.  to  2s.  6  d.  a  day 
as  pony-driver.  Then  when  he  feels  himself  strong  enough  he 
can  help  his  father  or  become  a  regular  miner  in  the  capacity 
of  charger,  and  at  eighteen,  if  he  is  robust  and  vigorous,  he  will 
earn  from  6s.  to  8s.  a  day,  and  will  have  attained  his  maximum 
return. 

The  prospect  of  such  prompt  remuneration  is  a  great 
attraction  to  an  improvident  and  needy  class,  which  does  not 
stop  to  consider  whether,  when  a  miner  grows  old  and  sees  his 
strength  decrease,  he  will  find  himself  in  a  les*s  advantageous 
position  than  in  his  youth.  They  see  only  the  immediate 
result  which  allows  a  child  to  earn  a  wage,  and  the  proximate 
result  which  will  render  him  independent  at  an  early  age. 
This  circumstance  acts  disastrously  upon  the  class  of  recruits, 
for  it  is  not  the  picked  members  of  a  family  who  go  down  into 


126  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

the  mine.  Fathers  who  are  careful  for  the  future  of  their 
children,  and  capable  of  making  sacrifices  to  assure  it,  prefer 
to  maintain  their  children  longer,  and  to  give  them  an  appren- 
ticeship less  immediately  advantageous  than  the  miner's,  and 
to  throw  them  into  some  more  open  career,  in  which  they  have 
more  chance  of  raising  themselves.  In  studying  the  Fisher 
family  we  shall  see  that  none  of  his  sons  go  down  the  pit, 
although  their  father  employs  young  men  in  his  capacity  of 
stone-worker,  and  would  have  derived  an  immediate  material 
advantage  from  having  his  sons  with  him.  One  of  them  is 
employed  as  clerk  in  the  colliery  office,  and  another  is  serving 
his  apprenticeship  as  a  joiner.  Fisher  explained  with  a  certain 
self-satisfaction  why  he  had  put  his  children  out  thus.  It  is 
indeed  a  clear  proof  of  his  pecuniary  position,  of  the  ease 
which  reigns  in  his  household,  and  of  his  grasp  of  the 
future. 

The  schoolmistress  at  Rosewell,  Miss  Thomson,  who  had 
been  in  the  village  for  eighteen  years,  and  who  seconded  me 
most  usefully  in  my  inquiry,  made  an  interesting  remark  on 
this  point.  "  Generally,"  she  said,  "  it  is  the  elder  children 
who  go  down  the  pit ;  the  younger  ones  are  more  likely  to 
escape,  and  it  is  easy  to  understand  why.  When  a  miner  has 
a  numerous  family  his  expenses  are  considerable  at  the  outset. 
The  eldest  boy  reaches  the  age  of  twelve  or  thirteen,  and  has 
seven  or  eight  brothers  and  sisters  behind  him,  his  father's 
wages  are  barely  adequate  to  fill  so  many  mouths,  and  it  is  a 
great  relief  to  set  the  lad  to  earn  10s.  or  12s.  a  week  as  a 
pony-driver.  It  is  an  appreciable  resource,  and  almost  neces- 
sary to  make  both  ends  meet.  On  the  other  hand,  when  the 
elder  ones  are  doing  for  themselves,  or  paying  so  much  out  of 
their  wages  towards  the  joint  expenses,  a  certain  ease  reigns  in 
the  family,  and  parents  can  more  easily  maintain  the  younger 
children  during  a  burdensome  apprenticeship.  Then  they  are 
ambitious  to  put  them  into  business,  or  to  send  them  into  a 
trade  or  a  factory,  as  engineers,  for  example." 

Of  course  such  ambition  bears  no  fruit  except  among  the 
more  capable,  who  know  how  to  regulate  their  expenditure 
by  their  income,  and  to  make  things  easy  at  home.  Those 
who  drink  and  gamble,  and  these  are  not  a  few,  are  never  in 
a  position  to  make  the  sacrifices  necessary  to  attain  this  end, 


CHAP,  i  IN  MINES  127 

and  their  sons  all  go  down  the  pit  as  soon  as  they  are  old 
enough  to  earn  a  wage. 

Thus  the  families  in  a  mining  village  may  be  classed 
according  to  the  occupation  of  the  children.  The  best  organ- 
ised and  most  prosperous  families,  like  Fisher's,  tend  to  bring 
up  their  sons  outside  the  mining  class,  and  are  able  to  do  so. 
Average  families  only  attain  this  result  in  the  case  of  the 
younger  children,  and  the  less  well  equipped  send  all  their 
children  down  the  pit.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  I  was  right 
in  saying  that  the  recruits  are  not  the  highest  type,  a  fact 
which  we  shall  often  have  occasion  to  remark. 

For  a  moment  I  wish  to  confine  myself  to  one  aspect  of 
the  fact,  the  conservative  character  of  a  trade  constituted  in  the 
way  we  have  just  seen.  A  miner  can  always  say  to  himself, 
"  If  I  don't  know  what  to  do  with  my  boy  I'll  make  a  miner 
of  him."  If  he  does  not  concern  himself  much  about  the 
future,  if  he  allows  himself  to  be  guided  by  circumstances,  if, 
in  a  word,  he  lacks  initiative,  it  is  all  but  certain  that  his  son 
will  go  down  the  pit  at  the  age  of  twelve  or  thirteen,  and  will 
remain  there  all  his  life,  unless  he  possesses  in  a  high  degree 
the  qualities  which  his  father  lacked.  Miners  are  recruited 
then,  as  a  matter  of  course,  from  the  least  provident,  the  least 
capable,  the  least  open  to  initiative.  They  are  conservative  in 
a  bad  sense,  following  meekly  along  the  beaten  track,  without 
looking  either  to  the  right  or  to  the  left,  to  see  whether  there 
might  be  a  short  cut  across  country,  or  whether  it  would  pay 
to  make  a  road  in  the  opposite  direction.  In  this  they 
resemble  the  skilled  workmen  in  the  small  trades,  whom  we 
have  seen  clinging  obstinately  to  the  past  without  providing 
for  the  future.  Often  they  are  even  worse,  owing  to  the  small 
amount  of  scope  their  work  gives  to  any  latent  inventive 
faculties  they  may  possess.  The  workers  in  the  small  trades 
are  often  ingenious  and  on  the  look-out,  and  ready  to  adopt 
any  technical  improvements.  The  miner's  work  never  changes, 
it  does  not  appeal  to  his  intelligence,  and  plunges  him  into 
routine. 

To  this  it  must  be  added  that  in  many  mining  centres  the 
production  of  coal  has  grown  for  half  a  century  in  the  same  pro- 
portion as  the  mining  population  has  increased,  and  consequently 
no  need  for  leaving  the  trade  has  yet  made  itself  felt.  There  is 


128  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

a  balance  between  the  demand  for  workers  and  the  supply. 
Consequently  it  is  an  easy  matter  for  the  adherents  to  custom 
to  argue  that  it  is  better  to  make  their  sons  miners,  and  ensure 
them  high  wages  at  an  early  age,  than  to  leave  them  to  run  the 
risks  of  some  other  profession.  This  reasoning  would  commend 
itself  not  only  to  the  improvident  but  to  the  prudent,  and  in 
fact  it  has  done  so,  and  their  practice  has  in  its  turn 
strengthened  the  authority  of  tradition.  Hence  we  find 
families  where  the  ascendants,  descendants,  and  collaterals 
are  all  miners.  "My  father,  my  grandfather,  and  all  my 
brothers  have  worked  in  the  pit,"  said  Mr.  Stanley,  secretary 
of  the  Midland  Miners'  Federation,  himself  an  ex-miner. 
Fisher  said  substantially  the  same  thing,  and  both  agreed  in 
regarding  this  not  as  an  exception  but  as  a  general  rule.  Few 
artisan  communities  in  England  are  so  stable  as  mining  com- 
munities. Even  in  families  where  the  father  is  a  member 
of  one  of  the  small  trades,  involving  the  possession  of  an 
exceptionally  high  degree  of  technical  skill — as,  for  example, 
the  Birmingham  glassworkers  and  the  Sheffield  cutlers — the 
children  are  less  inclined  to  embrace  their  father's  profession 
than  among  the  miners.  The  very  limitation  of  the  number 
of  apprentices  renders  it  difficult  for  all  the  children  of  a 
family  to  be  absorbed  by  the  father's  trade,  and  further,  the 
glassworkers  and  cutlers  live  in  perpetual  contact  with  work- 
men of  every  kind.  Both  at  Birmingham  and  Sheffield  the 
variety  is  great.  In  a  mining  village,  on  the  contrary,  there 
are  only  miners  or  persons  employed  by  the  mine,  such  as 
carpenters  or  mechanics,  and  everybody,  from  the  pony-driver  to 
the  village  retail  trader,  gets  his  living  directly  or  indirectly 
from  the  mine.  The  frame  is  infinitely  more  narrow  and  the 
young  man  has  less  chance  of  raising  himself. 

I  fancy  that  these  and  no  more  mysterious  causes  are  all 
that  is  needed  to  explain  "  the  attraction  of  the  mine,"  a  term 
which  is  often  used  to  explain  the  persistence  of  the  miner's 
calling  in  certain  families.  The  pit  pays  well  and  it  pays  soon, 
and  miners'  sons,  who  are  already  strongly  attracted  towards  the 
calling  for  these  two  reasons,  are  further  influenced  by  being 
reared  in  an  environment  where  there  is  no  horizon  beyond  the 
pit,  except  for  a  few  capable  and  ambitious  parents.  Is  not 
this  explanation  enough  ? 


CHAP,  i  7.V  MINES  129 

However,  this  expression,  "  the  attraction  of  the  mine," 
which  supposes  in  some  curious  way  the  occult  influence  of  some 
subterranean  fairy,  is  a  useful  one  to  retain  as  the  fanciful  and 
fantastic  statement  of  a  real  phenomenon.  At  first  sight,  the 
stranger,  overwhelmed  by  the  idea  of  descending  1600  or  2000 
feet  below  the  surface,  asks  how  human  beings  can  condemn 
themselves  to  live  and  work  in  these  dark  and  hollow  depths, 
braving  the  dangers  of  fire-damp,  of  falling  in,  of  flooding,  etc. 
It  is  then  that  the  phrase, "  mysterious  attraction,"  suggests  itself 
to  him,  through  the  personal  repulsion  which  he  himself  feels 
for  a  calling  so  little  akin  to  his  habits.  "  A  man  must  have 
been  brought  up  to  it,"  he  thinks,  and  there  he  is  right,  for  it 
is  but  rarely  that  miners  are  recruited  from  among  workers  of 
other  trades. 

At  Eosewell  the  bulk  of  the  population  consists  of 
descendants  of  former  miners,  who,  as  long  ago  as  last  century, 
worked  the  veins  of  coal  nearest  to  the  surface  for  the  sake  of 
fuel.  Later,  when  a  scientific  and  reasoned  system  of  working 
took  its  rise,  it  was  necessary  to  augment  the  number  of 
workers  very  largely.  The  colliery  owner  brought  a  large 
number  from  Ayrshire,  where  he  had  other  collieries,  while  the 
farmers  near  Eosewell  supplied  him  with  others,  and  the  other 
mining  centres  of  Fife  and  the  Lothians  also  sent  a  contingent, 
so  that  it  was  from  among  miners  and  their  near  neighbours 
that  the  staff  of  workers  was  obtained.  There  are  also  at 
Eosewell  a  fair  number  of  Irish  families,  forced  by  agricultural 
distress  to  emigrate  in  search  of  work  of  any  kind,  but  it  is  a 
well-known  fact  that  these  families  for  the  first  generation 
furnish  workers  at  the  surface  only.  Only  their  children, 
who  have  been  educated  with  miners'  sons,  become  workers  in 
the  pit  itself. 

The  calling  is  thus  conservative  in  two  senses ;  first,  because 
it  is  exercised  as  a  matter  of  course,  without  the  intervention 
of  personal  initiative,  by  miners'  sons ;  secondly,  because  it  is 
repugnant  to  any  others. 

The  circumstance,  however,  which  gives  the  miner  his  own 
peculiar  physiognomy  and  distinguishes  him  clearly  from  all 
other  workers  is  his  fidelity  to  his  trade. 


i3o  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 


III.  The  Miner's  Fidelity  to  his  Trade. 

"  A  collier  is  always  a  collier,"  said  Miss  Thomson,  speak- 
ing of  the  Eosewell  people,  and  Fisher's  history  gives  a  curious 
confirmation  to  this  local  adage.  Not  content  with  remaining 
a  collier  at  home  in  the  Lothians,  Fisher  has  worked  in 
collieries  in  America,  both  in  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania.  He 
possesses  sufficient  energy  to  change  his  country,  but  he  has 
never  dreamed  of  changing  his  trade.  It  must  be  noted  that 
his  exodus  to  the  United  States  was  not  the  sudden  fancy  of  a 
young  man  who  wanted  to  see  the  world,  but  the  carrying  out 
of  a  serious  and  reasoned  project.  Like  many  miners,  Fisher 
married  young,  and  had  already  four  children  when  he  went  to 
America.  He  had  heard  from  relations  of  his  wife  settled  in 
Pennsylvania  that  wages  were  high  in  the  Pittsburgh  mines, 
and  this  was  what  led  to  his  decision. 

"  Well  then,"  I  said,  "  why  did  you  come  back  to  Ptosewell  ? 
It  was  true  enough,  and  you  must  have  found  yourself  well 
paid  over  there."  "  Yes,  but  the  climate  did  not  suit  my  wife 
and  she  had  terrible  headaches."  It  was  not  difficult  to 
recognise  in  this  reply  one  of  those  false,  or  at  any  rate 
secondary,  reasons  which  most  people  give  in  answer  to  a 
question,  either  from  want  of  reflection  or  to  avoid  too  search- 
ing an  inquisition.  It  was  during  one  of  my  first  interviews 
with  Fisher,  and  the  ice  was  not  quite  broken,  so  that  I  had 
to  content  myself  provisionally  with  Mrs.  Fisher's  headaches 
to  account  for  her  husband's  return.  Some  days  later,  as  he 
often  talked  of  America,  I  said  to  him,  "  Come,  you  seem  to 
want  to  see  some  of  your  children  go  to  the  United  States ; 
you  have  relations  who  have  done  well  there,  you  are  a  good 
worker  and  a  steady  family  man,  why  then  did  you  prefer  to 
return  to  Scotland  instead  of  settling  in  Pennsylvania  or 
Ohio  ? "  "  Ah,"  he  replied,  "  if  I  had  been  anything  but  a 
collier  I  think  I  should  have  got  on  over  there  and  should 
have  stayed.  As  a  collier  a  man  earns  twice  the  wage  he  gets 
here,  but  at  the  end  of  the  year  he  is  not  a  bit  better  off." 

Nevertheless,  Fisher  does  not  complain  of  the  cost  of  living 
in  America,  for  he  recognises  that  if  rents  are  higher  than  in 
Scotland,  and  if  clothing  is  much  dearer,  yet  food  on  the  other 


CHAP,  i  IN  MINES  131 

hand  is  cheap,  so  that  the  sum  total  of  his  expenses  was  not 
materially  increased.  "  What  kills  the  worker,"  he  said,  "  is 
that  employment  is  not  steady." 

It  is  easy  to  understand  this  impression  in  a  miner,  who 
is  accustomed  to  throw  in  his  lot  with  the  pit  in  his  village, 
who  has  entered  the  trade  because  of  the  family  tradition  and 
because  of  lifelong  familiarity  with  it,  and  who  is  consequently 
little  disposed  to  try  something  else  when  the  pit  can  no  longer 
supply  him  with  work.  In  America  industrial  depression  is 
frequent,  and  markets  change,  disappear,  and  reappear  with 
prodigious  rapidity.  There,  even  more  than  in  modern 
Western  Europe,  more  even  than  in  England,  a  man  must  be 
always  ready  to  change  his  trade.  Clearly  this  is  not  the 
place  for  a  conservative  and  specialised  workman.  At  the  first 
crisis  of  interrupted  work  in  Pennsylvania,  Fisher  went  to 
Ohio,  where  he  no  doubt  hoped  to  find  a  mining  centre  less 
subject  to  these  shocks.  Experience  soon  showed  him  that  in 
this  Ohio  resembled  Pennsylvania,  and  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Hood, 
the  head  of  White  Hill  Colliery,  saying  that,  as  his  wife 
suffered  from  very  severe  headaches,  he  was  willing  to  return 
to  Kosewell  if  he  were  assured  that  he  could  resume  his 
work.  Mr.  Hood,  who  had  a  high  opinion  of  him,  and  is 
a  kindly  master,  not  only  replied  that  he  would  gladly  receive 
him,  but  added  that,  if  he  had  not  sufficient  money  to  pay 
the  passage  for  himself  and  his  family,  he  would  be  glad  to 
advance  it. 

Such  was  the  Prodigal  Son  episode  in  Fisher's  life.  He 
had  allowed  himself  to  be  tempted  by  the  bait  of  $50  a 
month,  the  sum  earned  by  a  Pittsburgh  collier  when  trade  is 
brisk.  He  had  not  observed  the  lurking  danger  of  irregular 
employment,  and  believed  that  it  was  only  necessary  to  be  a 
first-class  workman  in  order  to  be  sure  of  $50  a  month.  Of 
these  he  would  spend  $30,  put  $20  aside,  and  get  rich.  But 
when  he  saw  himself  out  of  work  for  months  at  a  time,  he 
found  the  reality  very  different  from  his  dream.  I  do  not 
know  whether  he  kept  swine,  though  it  is  quite  likely,  but  he 
told  me  that  during  one  critical  period  he  had  been  thankful 
to  work  for  a  farmer  for  $1  a  day. 

In  short,  Fisher  was  not  ripe  for  America — he  was  too 
much  a  workman  of  the  ancient  type,  the  skilled  workman 


1 32  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  u 

bound  to  his  trade — and  he  did  well  to  return.  His  children, 
whom  he  has  wisely  kept  away  from  the  mine,  and  thus 
despecialised,  have  friends  and  acquaintances  in  America,  and 
several  of  them  will  no  doubt  go  there  to  seek  their  fortunes, 
and  will  do  well. 

Fisher  gave  me  an  account  of  one  of  his  uncles,  a  Scottish 
miner  like  himself,  who  went  to  the  United  States  and 
succeeded.  The  story  is  interesting,  because  it  shows,  by  a 
contrary  example,  the  permanence  of  the  collier's  specialism. 
This  uncle  arrived  in  Ohio  at  a  favourable  moment,  succeeded 
in  saving  considerably  out  of  his  wages  during  the  first  few 
years  he  was  there,  soon  became  underground  manager,  and 
found  himself  in  a  position  to  buy  a  farm  in  Ohio,  on  which 
he  settled  with  his  family.  Nevertheless,  in  this  transforma- 
tion of  the  miner  into  the  landlord,  the  miner  persisted,  for 
the  principal  motive  which  influenced  him  in  the  choice  of  his 
farm  was  that  it  contained  important  coal  deposits,  and  to-day 
the  income  of  this  so-called  farmer  is  still  derived  from  coal. 
I  asked  Fisher  if  he  knew  of  many  examples  of  English  miners 
settling  in  America.  "  No,"  he  replied ;  "  not  a  great  many 
miners  settle  in  the  States,  although  many  go  to  the  pits  in 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio."  I  was  not  surprised,  for  most 
colliers  are  like  Fisher,  and  are  ill  suited  to  a  country  where 
circumstances  do  not  as  a  rule  allow  of  the  uninterrupted 
exercise  of  any  trade.  Like  Fisher,  they  are  not  ripe  for 
America. 

In  the  course  of  my  inquiry  in  Great  Britain,  I  often  met 
men  who  had  crossed  the  Atlantic  and  spent  more  or  less 
time  in  the  United  States,  and  I  never  failed  to  question  them 
in  detail  as  to  what  they  had  done  over  there,  the  im- 
pression they  had  brought  back,  and  the  sympathy  or  antipathy 
they  felt  for  American  ways.  Their  replies  invariably  threw 
considerable  light  upon  their  degree  of  specialisation.  The 
workman  of  the  ancient  type,  the  clever  artisan  bound  to  his 
trade,  proud  of  his  technical  skill  and  determined  not  to  lower 
himself  by  undertaking  work  of  an  inferior  grade,  had  never 
anything  but  contempt  for  America.  My  readers  will  remember 
the  contemptuous  expression  of  the  London  plumber  of  whom 
I  inquired  why  his  comrades  did  not  seek  openings  for  their 
technical  skill  in  the  large  American  cities  if  work  was  scarce 


CHAP,  i  IN  MINES  133 

in  England.  "  They  only  do  rough  work  over  there,"  he 
replied.  At  an  evening  school  in  Birmingham  I  saw  a  smith 
who  had  spent  some  time  in  Philadelphia  with  his  son,  and 
had  returned  very  much  out  of  love  with  it.  "  I  was  like  a 
child,"  he  said.  "  I  knew  nothing  about  my  trade ;  everything 
that  I  knew  how  to  do  with  my  hands  they  did  by  machinery. 
So  here  I  am  back  in  dear  old  England,  and  I  shall  not  leave 
it  again  in  a  hurry  to  look  for  work  elsewhere."  Poor  man ! 
he  did  not  see  that  his  dear  old  England  is  on  the  way  to  grow 
young  again  very  quickly,  and  if  God  grants  him  life,  he  will 
probably  see  the  odious  American  practices  adopted  in  English 
workshops.  Where  then  will  he  turn  to  find  a  refuge  for  his 
specialism  ?  A  degree  higher  come  Fisher  and  his  congeners. 
For  them  work  is  the  same  in  England  and  in  the  United 
States,  but  they  are  stopped  by  the  greater  unsteadiness  of 
employment.  I  have  often  met  Anglo-Saxon  emigrants  in 
the  United  States  who  were  not  stopped  either  by  the  rough- 
ness of  the  work  or  by  the  variety  of  occupations,  and  who 
always  managed  to  make  the  best  of  what  came  their  way. 
Such  men  succeeded  and  promptly  became  American,  and  were 
never  again  seen  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames.  They  were, 
completely  despecialised.  We  shall  see  in  the  course  of  this 
work  how  the  modern  conditions  of  the  factory  system  force 
the  worker  more  and  more  towards  this  type,  how  the  de- 
specialised  are  the  best  fitted  to  profit  by  the  future  in 
England,  just  as  they  are  the  only  men  capable  of  profiting 
by  the  present  in  America. 

To  return  to  our  miners,  it  is  obvious  that  their  specialised 
character  is  a  great  obstacle  to  their  prosperous  settlement  in 
the  United  States,  and  I  have  already  pointed  out  some  of  the 
circumstances  which  tend  to  produce  this  character  in  them. 
I  have  analysed  the  expression,  "  the  attraction  of  the  mine," 
which  states  without  explaining  the  attachment  of  the  collier 
to  his  trade. 

In  conclusion,  I  must  recall  an  important  circumstance 
which  comes  in  to  strengthen  the  indissolubility  of  the  union 
between  the  mine  and  the  miner.  This  circumstance  is  the 
isolation  of  many  mining  villages.  Rosewell  is  a  good  example 
of  this ;  all  the  houses  belong  to  the  Company,  and  not  only 
does  the  population  consist  exclusively  of  miners  without  any 


134  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  IN  MINES  PART  n 

admixture  of  other  trades,  but  the  miner  is  himself  a  miner 
without  any  tinge  of  any  other  occupation.  He  is,  in  fact,  as 
much  bound  to  the  subsoil  as  the  serf  of  the  Middle  Ages  was 
bound  to  the  soil,  and  is  perhaps  more  exclusively  a  miner 
than  the  serf  was  a  labourer.  Consequently  his  specialised 
character  becomes  very  highly  marked.  At  Eosewell  there  is 
a  brickyard  connected  with  the  mine  and  carried  on  by 
the  same  Company,  but  its  presence  does  not  affect  to  any 
appreciable  extent  the  phenomenon  in  question.  It  employs 
chiefly  children  and  workers  at  the  surface,  generally  Irish. 
In  times  of  interrupted  work  it  could  not  give  work  to  the 
colliers,  supposing  they  asked  for  it. 

Thus  isolated,  thus  penned  up  in  his  mining  village,  the 
collier  has  fewer  opportunities  than  most  other  workers  of 
quitting  the  trade  which  he  entered  in  accordance  with  the 
family  tradition,  and  in  which  he  is  tempted  by  habit  to  remain. 
Here,  then,  is  a  numerous  population,  compact  and  inert, 
depending  on  the  colliery  for  its  means  of  existence. 

On  the  other  hand,  these  collieries  cannot  be  worked  under 
existing  conditions  without  the  assistance  of  large  capitalists 
and  clever  engineers.  We  shall  now  see  how  this  assistance 
is  rendered,  and  examine  a  new  aspect  of  the  question.  So 
far  we  have  shown  the  simple  and  conservative  character  of 
the  work  on  the  collier's  side.  On  the  master's  side,  on  the 
contrary,  it  is  complicated  and  progressive. 


CHAPTER    II 

WHY  THE  CONTROL  OF  THE  MINES  IS  OUT  OF  THE 
COLLIER'S  REACH 

IN  the  majority  of  those  trades  organised  on  the  old  system 
which  we  have  already  examined,  there  is  no  great  distance 
between  the  master  and  the  man,  and  it  can  be  easily  covered. 
Nay,  we  have  frequently  met  the  type  of  master  workman 
working  with  his  own  hands  in  the  small  workshop  under  his 
direction.  Brown  is  such  an  example,  and  among  the  cutlers, 
the  jewellers,  the  cabinetmakers  the  phenomenon  is  common, 
as  it  was  formerly  among  customary  weavers.  This  position 
of  master  workman  was  the  goal  of  the  worker's  ambition  and 
his  way  of  rising  in  the  world,  and  we  have  seen,  in  the  cases 
of  Gutteridge  and  Thorn,  with  what  persistence  he  sought  to 
better  himself  on  these  old  lines,  even  when  new  conditions 
barred  his  way  and  opened  a  vast  field  of  activity  to  the 
capable  organiser  of  labour. 

There  is  no  parallel  case  in  the  mining  world.  We  have 
seen  the  forge  for  the  smith,  the  hand-loom  for  the  weaver,  we 
shall  not  see  the  mine  for  the  miner.  This  motto,  it  is  well 
known,  has  led  to  fruitless  attempts  in  France,  at  Monthieux 
and  at  Rive-de-Gier.  We  shall  not  meet  with  such  attempts 
either  in  England  or  in  Scotland,  for  they  are  opposed  to 
English  good  sense.  The  truth  is  that,  while  the  collier 
remains  a  worker  of  the  ancient  type  because  of  the  extreme 
simplicity  of  his  tools,  the  functions  of  the  employer  have 
become  extremely  complex,  and  demand  abilities  of  a  high 
order.  To  rent  collieries  he  must  have  a  large  command  of 
capital ;  to  work  them  on  scientific  principles  he  must  possess 


I36  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

technical  knowledge  difficult  of  acquisition  and  large  resources  ; 
and  thirdly,  to  make  them  a  commercial  success  he  must  be  a 
man  of  first-rate  business  capacity.  Such  endowments  far 
exceed  the  qualities  which  make  a  thrifty,  well-informed,  and 
energetic  workman.  The  distance  between  master  and  man 
is  very  great,  and  although  cases  may  be  found  of  men  cover- 
ing this  distance  and  becoming  employers,  yet  they  cease  at 
once  to  be  workers.  The  two  functions  are  incompatible. 

Let  us  now  observe  in  the  colliery  we  are  studying  the 
organisation  of  the  three  complex  functions  of  the  master — 
ownership,  the  direction  of  the  work,  and  the  distribution  of 
products — and  the  consequences  of  this  organisation  on  the 
social  condition  of  the  working  population. 

I.   Colliery  Ownership  and  the  Rights  of  the  Landlord. 

White  Hill  Colliery,  like  the  village  of  Eosewell,  is  part 
of  the  White  Hill  estate.  In  Scotland,  as  in  England,  the 
owner  of  the  soil  is  equally  the  owner  of  the  subsoil,  and  there 
is  no  exception  to  this  principle  in  the  case  of  mines,  such  as 
has  been  made  in  France  under  the  system  of  concessions 
introduced  by  the  law  of  1810. 

Nevertheless,  the  family  which  owns  the  estate  has  abso- 
lutely nothing  to  do  with  the  working  of  the  mine,  which  is 
farmed  to  the  Lothian  Coal  Company  for  a  royalty  of  3d.  on 
every  ton  of  coal  extracted.  The  royalty  represents  the 
right  of  the  owner  of  the  soil  to  the  products  of  the  sub- 
soil. In  some  cases  it  may  amount  to  as  much  as  6d.  a 
ton,  or  even  in  very  exceptional  cases  to  Is.,  when  the 
exclusive  right  of  working  is  combined  with  a  rare  quality  of 
coal.  At  other  times  the  owner  receives  in  kind  a  tenth, 
twelfth,  twentieth  of  the  raw  produce.  In  this  case  he 
becomes  a  merchant,  and  is  directly  interested  in  the  trade  in 
coal.  Sometimes,  but  very  rarely,  it  happens  that  the  owner 
of  the  soil  works  the  mine,  and  thus  becomes  a  master  collier. 

In  the  present  case  the  owner  of  the  soil  and  the  colliery 
owner  are  quite  distinct  persons.  The  laird,  who  has  been 
compensated  for  the  occupation  of  his  land  in  a  very  ad- 
vantageous way  by  the  payment  of  the  royalty,  has  no  contact 
with  the  mining  population,  and  no  share  in  the  direction  of 


CHAP,  ii  IN  MINES  137 

the  work.  Even  supposing  he  wished  to  do  so,  his  financial 
position  would  not  allow  him  to  take  any  important  part  in 
opening  up  the  mine,  for  the  estate  is  heavily  mortgaged.  We 
are  in  the  presence  of  a  great  lord  without  resources  at  his 
command.  This  situation  is  not  unknown  among  the  English 
aristocracy,  although,  thanks  to  the  constant  influx  of  fresh 
blood,  it  is  rarer  than  among  the  aristocracies  of  the  Continent. 
Some  peers  who  own  collieries  are  among  the  wealthiest  men 
in  the  country,  as  for  example  the  Marquis  of  Bute,  said  to  be 
the  largest  coal-owner  in  the  world. 

The  usufruct  of  the  mine  belongs  to  Mr.  Hood,  founder  and 
director  of  the  Lothian  Coal  Company,  who  until  recent  years 
worked  White  Hill  Colliery  entirely  at  his  own  expense. 
While  the  laird  possesses  only  a  sort  of  suzerainty,  expressed 
by  the  royalty,  Mr.  Hood  exercises  a  real  authority  over  the 
population  of  Kosewell,  and  is  generally  spoken  of  as  "  the 
master."  It  is  he,  in  fact,  who  fills  the  position  of  owner  and 
master,  and  it  is  owing  to  his  command  of  capital  that  he  is 
enabled  to  work  the  mine  and  to  utilise  the  wealth  it  contains. 

Every  one  knows  that  the  opening  up  of  a  colliery  demands 
a  large  command  of  ready  money.  White  Hill  Colliery  offers 
special  advantages  from  this  point  of  view,  but  nevertheless 
it  is  not  difficult  to  see  that  the  general  expenses  with  which 
it  is  loaded,  and  the  preparatory  work  which  must  be  under- 
taken before  the  extraction  of  coal  can  be  begun,  represent  a 
large  outlay.  The  seam  at  present  worked  lies  at  an  average 
depth  of  about  350  feet  below  the  surface.  This  is  a  most 
favourable  condition,  for  generally  it  is  necessary  to  descend 
much  lower  to  find  coaL 

Through  the  occurrence  of  a  somewhat  rare  geological 
formation,  another  seam  occurs  below  the  first,  about  3000 
feet  below  the  surface.  Mr.  Hood,  from  whom  I  had  the  in- 
formation, adds  that  this  seam  is  of  sufficient  thickness  to 
supply  coal  for  600  years  at  the  present  rate  of  extraction. 
Supposing  that  the  carboniferous  deposits  of  England  and 
Scotland  are  destined  to  be  completely  exhausted,  this  would  be 
one  of  the  last  to  supply  coal.  Think  of  a  man  without  capital 
owning  such  an  unavailable  treasure  buried  3000  feet  below  the 
surface !  Whenever  the  Lothian  Coal  Company  think  it  ex- 
pedient to  search  for  this  lower  seam,  it  will  be  necessary,  before 


138  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

obtaining  any  saleable  produce,  and  without  any  immediate 
profit,  to  undertake  boring  operations,  as  well  as  others  of  an 
extremely  costly  character. 

Meanwhile,  although  the  necessary  works  preliminary  to 
working  the  upper  seam  have  long  been  executed,  yet  there 
are  accessory  works  which  constantly  need  to  be  undertaken, 
and  which  involve  a  serious  outlay.  Owing  to  the  rocky 
nature  of  the  subsoil,  most  of  the  galleries  require  no  timber- 
ing, but  as  a  set-off  they  cost  a  very  large  sum  to  cut. 

The  constant  pumping  too  is  a  very  expensive  process. 
If  the  White  Hill  pit  escapes  the  dreaded  fire-damp,  yet  as  a 
set-off  it  has  more  than  others  to  reckon  with  the  permanent 
danger  of  flooding.  A  powerful  steam  pump,  capable  of  pump- 
ing 700  gallons  a  minute,  is  kept  at  work  night  and  day,  and 
is  reinforced  by  three  other  pumps  worked  by  compressed  air 
or  by  electricity,  which  bring  the  water  from  different  parts  of 
the  mine. 

Further,  there  is  the  need  for  ventilating  shafts  and 
apparatus,  the  descending  gear,  waggons,  rails,  etc.,  the  horses 
employed  for  draught,  the  trucks  for  loading  coal,  and  the 
construction  and  upkeep  of  the  line  connecting  the  pit  with  the 
North  British  Eailway.  It  may  thus  be  seen  that  the  machinery 
required  by  the  master  is  as  complicated  as  that  of  the  collier 
is  simple.  The  latter  comes  to  the  pit  with  his  five-shilling 
pick,  but  he  could  not  use  it  except  for  the  large  capital 
devoted  by  the  master  to  opening  up  the  mine,  and  to 
meeting  the  general  expenses  in  connection  with  it. 

Nor  is  this  all.  The  Lothian  Coal  Company  not  only  owns 
the  mine,  but  also  the  houses  of  the  men,  which  is  necessary, 
given  the  situation  of  White  Hill  Colliery.  There  is  no  centre 
near  the  pit,  and  the  village  of  Rosewell  owes  it  existence 
entirely  to  the  working  of  the  coal  seam.  There  was  nothing 
there  before  but  a  single  farm  and  its  out-buildings.  Hence 
it  follows  that  the  number  of  houses  is  exactly  proportional 
to  the  number  of  miners,  and  every  occupier  is  necessarily  a 
miner  or  is  connected  with  the  mine  in  some  capacity  or  other. 
The  Company  has  had  to  construct  all  the  dwellings,  and  when 
a  miner  leaves  its  service  he  does  not  receive  the  last  fortnight's 
wages  until  he  has  given  up  the  key. 

The  isolation  of  White  Hill  Colliery  consequently  renders  it 


CHAP,  ii  IN  MINES  139 

almost  impossible  for  the  miner  to  own  his  home.  Not  a 
single  Eosewell  miner  does  so.  This  is  not  the  case  in  districts 
where  the  pits  are  very  near  each  other — in  the  Midlands,  for 
instance,  and  especially  in  the  Black  Country,  where  a  collier 
can  work  in  several  different  pits  without  changing  his  abode. 
The  villages  are  numerous  and  form  an  almost  uninterrupted 
string,  and  the  masters  are  consequently  freed  from  the 
responsibility  of  lodging  their  men  without  the  latter  having 
any  difficulty  in  finding  quarters.  The  miner  prefers  to 
settle  in  a  centre  where  he  can  find  employment  under  several 
different  masters,  rather  than  in  a  village  where  he  is  de- 
pendent on  the  success  of  a  single  colliery.  This  phenomenon 
is  still  more  marked  in  the  cases  where  beds  of  coal  are  sur- 
rounded by  a  ring  of  factories,  and  round  which  veritable 
towns  have  sprung  up.  At  Sheffield,  for  instance,  with  a 
population  of  350,000  persons,  I  have  seen  pits  right  in  the 
town.  In  Wolverhampton,  Stafford,  and  on  the  outskirts 
of  Glasgow,  Manchester,  or  Birmingham,  the  phenomenon  is  a 
common  one.  Between  Birmingham  and  Wolverhampton  you 
never  for  a  moment  lose  sight  of  factory  chimneys,  long 
uniform  rows  of  working-class  dwellings,  and  great  roofs  of 
corrugated  iron  covering  enormous  workshops,  and  from  time 
to  time  you  see  emerging  from  huge  heaps  of  refuse  and  of 
blackened  debris  the  great  wooden  scaffolds  with  wheels  on  the 
top  which  mark  the  mouth  of  a  shaft. 

Miners  who  work  in  collieries  of  this  sort  often  succeed  in 
acquiring  their  own  houses.  It  is  a  recognised  form  of  invest- 
ment among  the  more  thrifty  to  buy  two,  three,  or  sometimes 
even  five  or  six  houses,  which  they  let  to  less  lucky  comrades. 
To  the  same  extent  that  the  possession  of  the  homestead  is  a 
fortunate  circumstance  for  a  family  is  the  exploitation  of 
house  property  by  a  workman  attended  by  disadvantages.  He 
is  generally  hard  upon  his  tenant,  does  none  but  the  most  in- 
dispensable repairs,  and  cares  little  about  hygienic  conditions. 
Sanitary  inspectors  denounce  him  as  a  serious  obstacle  to  the 
sanitary  reform  of  artisan  quarters,  and  some  sociologists  see  in 
his  conduct  a  form  of  sweating.  One  day,  when  I  was  express- 
ing to  Mr.  Sidney  Webb,  of  the  London  County  Council,  my 
opinion  that  it  was  a  desirable  thing  for  a  workman  to  have 
the  power  of  acquiring  his  homestead,  he  replied,  "  I  would 


140  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

rather  see  the  whole  of  London  in  the  hands  of  half  a  score  of 
dukes  like  the  Duke  of  Westminster  than  divided  among  a 
multitude  of  small  landlords.  If  a  working  man  owns  his  own 
house  he  can  buy  his  neighbour's  as  well,  and  thus  become  a 
sweater."  I  ought  to  say  that  I  am  still  of  the  same  opinion, 
in  spite  of  the  danger  pointed  out  by  Mr.  Sidney  Webb. 
Nevertheless  this  danger  does  exist,  but  the  formation  of 
Building  Societies  to  enable  working-class  families  to  acquire 
the  homestead  they  inhabit  will  probably  remedy  it  more 
successfully  than  any  collectivist  schemes  could  possibly  do. 

Wherever  conditions  of  isolation  exist  analogous  to  those 
which  have  been  pointed  out  in  the  case  of  the  White  Hill 
Colliery,  the  wish  of  Mr.  Sidney  Webb  is  found  to  be  realised 
naturally  by  the  force  of  circumstances.  Eosewell,  like  the 
mine  itself,  belongs  entirely  to  the  Lothian  Coal  Company, 
and  the  miners'  houses  are  satisfactory.  But  the  village,  like 
the  mine,  belongs  to  the  Company,  subject  to  the  rights 
of  the  owner  of  the  soil,  and  the  ground  on  which  it  is  built 
forms  part  of  the  White  Hill  estate,  and  is  feued  to  the 
Company. 

Feuhold,  so  far  as  I  can  gather,  corresponds  to  the  perpetual 
holding  of  old  French  law.  English  law  does  not  recognise 
feuhold,  and  landlords  who  rent  land  to  persons  who  wish  to 
build  a  house  generally  adopt  the  leasehold  system,  that  is  to 
say,  a  lease  for  a  long  term  of  years.  They  grant  the  tenant 
the  enjoyment  of  the  soil  for  ninety-nine  years  at  a  small  rent, 
but  at  the  end  of  that  period  the  land  returns  to  them,  with 
all  buildings  and  improvements.  It  is  in  this  way  that  certain 
wealthy  families  have  acquired  the  ownership  of  entire  quarters 
of  London.  In  Scotland,  under  the  system  of  feuing,  the 
landlord  derives  an  immediate  profit  from  the  bargain,  but  this 
profit  does  not  go  on  increasing ;  it  is  invariable,  it  does  not 
accumulate  for  ninety-nine  years  in  the  tenant's  hands. 

The  Lothian  Coal  Company,  therefore,  in  addition  to  all 
the  other  expenses  just  enumerated,  has  to  pay  an  annual 
rent  to  the  laird  of  White  Hill  for  the  ground  on  which  the 
village  is  built. 

This  is  not  in  any  way  exceptional  in  Scotland.  There,  as 
in  England,  the  soil  belongs  to  a  small  number  of  privileged 
families,  and  if  these  families  become  impoverished,  they  are 


CHAP,  ii  IN  MINES  141 

succeeded  by  others  newly  enriched  and  glad  to  enrol  them- 
selves in  the  landed  aristocracy.  Thus,  where  an  individual 
great  landowner  disappears,  natural  causes  lead  to  the  re- 
consolidation  of  large  estates. 

Hence  it  follows  that  almost  all  mining  companies  are 
subject  to  a  suzerainty  expressed  by  the  payment  of  rents  and 
royalties.  These  charges  are  repugnant  to  modern  ideas,  and 
are  the  object  of  forcible  criticism  about  which  a  few  words 
must  be  said.1  Eoyalties  in  particular  are  much  disliked  by 
miners'  Unions.  If  the  companies  had  not  to  pay  royalties, 
they  argue,  they  could  increase  the  miners'  wages.  This  is 
the  first  reason  for  opposition  to  royalties. 

From  another  point  of  view,  the  spectacle  of  fortunate 
landlords,  drawing  a  considerable  profit  every  year  without 
risking  a  farthing  of  capital,  or  taking  the  smallest  part  in 
the  working  of  the  colliery,  is  one  calculated  to  excite  envy. 
When  these  landlords  are  numerous,  as  in  France,  or  when  it 
is  easy  to  become  a  landlord,  as  in  the  United  States,  envy  is 
tempered  by  the  secret  hope  which  each  one  cherishes  of 
profiting  in  his  turn  by  a  similar  piece  of  good  luck.  It  is  a 
lottery  in  which  everybody  can  take  a  ticket,  and  the  fascinar 
tion  of  the  prize  blinds  men  to  the  inequality  of  the  chances. 
In  England,  and  still  more  in  Scotland,  all  increased  value 
given  to  the  land  benefits  the  aristocracy  exclusively,  a  very 
small  minority  of  large  landed  proprietors.  If  a  pit  is  opened, 
if  a  town  grows,  if  an  industry  develops  and  covers  the  fields 
with  factories,  it  is  the  landlord  who  will  reap  the  indirect 
benefit  of  the  enterprise,  it  is  to  him  that  the  royalty  will  be 
paid,  it  is  he  who  will  dispose  of  the  land  he  holds  to  his  own 
advantage  for  the  construction  of  workshops,  shops,  and  houses. 

1  Seignorial  rights  of  very  varied  kinds  are  found  in  Scotland  in  lands  held  in 
feu.  For  example,  I  grant  a  man  a  feu  of  a  piece  of  land,  of  which  he  becomes 
the  owner,  and  of  which  he  has  the  usufruct,  as  long  as  he  pays  the  stipulated 
right,  and  this  usufruct  he  is  at  liberty  to  sell.  In  that  case  I  levy  a  casualty, 
which  is  generally  fixed  at  twice  the  annual  rent. 

Casualties  are  very  unpopular,  and  give  rise  to  difficulties  of  all  sorts,  and 
several  landlords  have  consequently  given  facilities  for  redemption  to  the  feuer. 
A  recent  law  allows  the  feuer  to  free  himself  on  given  conditions.  Only  the  feu, 
that  is  to  say,  the  original  ground  annual,  cannot  be  commuted  at  will.  The 
law  is  entitled  The  Conveyancing  (Scotland)  Act,  1874,  37  and  38  Victoria,  passed 
7th  August  1874.  The  sections  dealing  with  casualties  are  sections  15  to  24 
inclusive. 


142  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

Under  the  influence  of  these  circumstances,  the  idea  has 
sprung  up  and  spread  that  although  the  land,  modified  by 
the  work  of  culture,  is  the  legitimate  property  of  the  landlord 
whose  predecessors  have  executed  this  work,  yet  the  subsoil, 
which  they  had  left  untouched,  which  they  had  not  had  in 
view  when  buying  the  land,  ought  to  belong  to  the  nation. 

Such  a  conception  is  absolutely  foreign  alike  to  Saxon  and 
Norman  traditions,  which  make  the  lord  of  the  soil  lord  and 
master  of  all  that  goes  with  it,  and  which  grant  him  not  only 
the  free  disposition  of  its  products,  but  also  the  administration 
of  interests  of  every  sort  arising  out  of  it,  which  institute  the 
freeholder,  the  sovereign  of  the  land.  It  marks  the  profound 
modification  undergone  by  British  ideas  and  customs  since  the 
territorial  aristocracy  yielded  the  first  place  to  the  industrial 
and  commercial  aristocracy.  To-day  a  large  estate  is  a  luxury, 
the  consecration,  so  to  speak,  of  a  fortune  already  acquired, 
and  no  longer  a  means  of  acquiring  one.  The  landlord  who 
makes  a  fortune  does  so  not  through  the  direct  product  of 
cultivation,  but  through  the  indirect  product  made  ofi'  the 
land  when  any  industry  is  established. 

The  movement  of  opinion  against  royalties  is,  therefore, 
the  expression  of  an  undoubted  change  in  the  social  condition 
of  England ;  it  corresponds  to  a  new  position  of  affairs,  and 
deserves  to  be  considered  otherwise  than  as  a  mere  theory  of 
the  ideologist.  Both  the  Saxon  and  the  Norman  tradition,  it 
is  true,  granted  to  the  owners  of  the  soil  the  rights  and  pre- 
rogatives of  power,  but  they  also  imposed  its  responsibilities 
upon  them.  The  owners  of  the  soil  undertook  at  one  and 
the  same  time  the  work  for  the  good  of  the  nation,  the  national 
defence,  and  the  public  service  :  they  were  cultivators,  warriors, 
judges,  and  administrators.  To-day  work  for  the  good  of  the 
nation  no  longer  consists  exclusively  of  agriculture — mining, 
and  still  more  industrial  pursuits,  come  into  the  category — and 
much  of  it  consequently  has  passed  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
owners  of  the  soil;  national  defence  has  been  quite  a  dead 
letter  since  the  institution  of  standing  armies ;  working  men 
have  been  appointed  magistrates  in  the  towns,  and  the  magis- 
tracy is  no  longer  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the  land- 
owning class,  except  in  the  country,  where  justices  of  the  peace 
are  recruited  from  this  class ;  the  administrative  control  which 


CHAP,  ii  IN  MINES  143 

was  retained  until  lately  by  the  Quarter  Sessions  has  been 
entrusted,  since  the  passing  of  the  Local  Government  Bill,  to 
elective  County  Councils,  and  a  recent  law  has  just  instituted 
Parish  Councils  to  replace  the  squire's  authority.  Finally,  on 
the  highest  rung  of  the  ladder,  the  political  position  of  the 
House  of  Lords  is  seriously  menaced.  The  realities  of  political 
power  have  thus  passed  into  new  hands  at  the  same  time  as 
the  new  sources  of  influence  derived  from  labour.  The  holders 
of  the  soil  no  longer  represent  the  collective  interests  of  the 
nation.  A  new  nation  has  been  formed,  of  which  they  are 
part,  but  it  no  longer  confounds  itself  with  them. 

It  is  to  this  new  nation  that  the  majority  of  the 
attributes  of  government  are  now  transferred,  and  one  of 
these  attributes  is  the  right  of  suzerainty  over  things  which 
do  not  positively  belong  to  any  one.  The  law  of  1810,  which 
related  to  mining  property  in  France,  rests  on  the  legal  fiction 
that  the  State,  representing  the  nation  in  its  collective  capacity, 
has  a  right  to  dispose  of  the  riches  of  the  subsoil.  Perhaps 
we  shall  some  day  see  the  State  in  England  acquire  the  rights 
of  the  present  owners  of  coalfields,  and  place  them  under  an 
analogous  regime.  That  day  will  see  the  end  of  royalties. 

Meanwhile,  the  Trade  Unions  are  carrying  on  a  vigorous 
agitation  against  them.  Their  sentiments  may  be  judged  from 
the  very  absolute  statement  made  to  me  by  Mr.  Stanley, 
the  secretary  of  the  Midland  Counties  Miners'  Federation. 
"  Eoyalties,  as  they  now  exist,"  he  said,  "  are  absurd.  They 
ought  to  belong  to  the  nation." 

After  such  a  sharply -defined  opinion  on  the  subject  of 
royalties,  I  waited  to  hear  the  speaker  express  analogous  ideas 
with  regard  to  the  property  of  mining  enterprises,  and  to  hear 
him  defend  the  position  of  "  the  mine  for  the  miner,"  but  I  was 
reckoning  without  the  English  good  sense  which  generally 
intervenes  to  prevent  a  principle  from  being  pushed  to  its 
logical  conclusion.  To  my  great  astonishment,  I  was  obliged 
to  explain  to  Mr.  Stanley  what  German  and  French  socialists 
mean  by  this  expression,  whereupon  he  remembered  having 
heard  it  at  International  Congresses  at  which  he  had  been 
present.  However,  without  attaching  any  importance  to  pro- 
jects of  which  he  saw  no  practical  outcome,  he  contented  him- 
self with  replying,  "  I  don't  see  how  that  could  be  managed." 


144  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

After  the  facts  I  have  set  forth,  I  am  glad  to  call  a  witness 
on  the  point  who  is  above  suspicion.  Mr.  Stanley  is  right ; 
the  collier  cannot  aspire  to  become  his  own  master  and  to 
own  the  pit  in  which  he  works.  It  is  out  of  his  reach  by  the 
very  fact  of  its  importance  and  by  the  amount  of  capital 
required  to  start  it.  Nor  is  money  everything.  Not  only  is 
a  colliery  very  expensive,  but  it  cannot  be  worked  without 
special  knowledge.  For  this,  ordinary  every-day  abilities  are 
as  insufficient  as  a  workman's  savings  would  be  to  meet  the 
working  expenses.  If  we  see  the  masters  at  work  we  shall 
learn  that  it  is  by  their  technical  knowledge,  still  more  than 
by  their  command  of  capital,  that  they  differ  from  their  men, 
although  the  second  point  serves  to  measure,  in  a  very  impress- 
ive manner,  the  distance  which  separates  the  two. 

II.  Scientific  Mining  and  the  Training  of  Mining  Engineers. 

It  would  indeed  be  superfluous  to  insist  upon  the  necessity 
for  special  technical  knowledge  in  those  who  undertake  to 
direct  mining  operations.  But  the  process  by  which  a  man 
becomes  a  mining  engineer  in  England  is  so  different  from  that 
in  France,  and  the  profession  of  a  mining  engineer  is  so  much 
more  open  to  the  men,  that  a  Frenchman  might  be  tempted  to 
think  there  is  less  difference  from  this  point  of  view  between 
the  English  miner  and  his  employer  than  between  the  French 
miner  and  his  employer.  This,  however,  is  not  so,  for  although 
the  English  method  offers  the  men  more  facilities  for  rising, 
yet  in  reality  it  is  only  an  infinitesimally  small  number  of 
picked  men  who  can  profit  by  it.  The  road  is  freer  but  the 
ascent  remains  difficult. 

Two  kinds  of  engineers  are  found  in  English  collieries,  one 
resembling  the  ordinary  type  of  French  engineer  and  the 
other  trained  under  a  very  different  system.  White  Hill 
Colliery  presents  examples  of  both. 

Mr.  Hood,  director  of  the  Lothian  Coal  Company,  lives  at 
Rosewell,  in  a  pretty  little  place  of  his  own,  a  few  hundred 
yards  from  the  village.  During  the  day  he  is  generally  to  be 
found  in  the  office  of  the  colliery,  unless  business  calls  him 
elsewhere.  Thus  he  lives  in  constant  contact  with  his  men, 
and  at  the  same  time  he  is  a  thorough  gentleman,  with  a  fund 


CHAP,  ii  IN  MINES  145 

of  agreeable  general  conversation.  He  was  educated  abroad — 
in  Belgium,  Germany,  and  subsequently  in  France — and  has 
travelled  widely.  This  has  modified  his  English  character, 
and  given  him  a  frankness  and  affability  very  unlike  the 
stiffness  of  which  his  countrymen  are  so  often  accused. 

Mr.  Hood  studied  at  the  School  of  Mines  at  Mons  and  at 
a  German  university,  and  completed  his  technical  education 
by  practical  studies  in  different  countries.  He  spent  three 
months  at  Aubin,  in  the  rich  coal  basin  of  Eouergue,  six 
months  in  Spain,  and  has  visited  collieries  in  Brazil,  Australia, 
and  New  Zealand.  He  has  also  mastered  several  foreign 
languages,  and  speaks  French  and  German  fluently,  as  well 
as  a  little  Spanish. 

Such  a  combination  of  qualities  makes  a  sharp  distinction 
between  an  engineer  and  his  men.  Mr.  Hood's  education  is 
quite  unlike  that  of  the  ordinary  working  man,  and  implies 
that  his  parents  possessed  pecuniary  means  quite  out  of  the 
reach  of  working-class  families.  He  is  an  engineer  in  the 
French  sense,  with  the  additional  English  characteristic  of 
extensive  foreign  travel  and  prolonged  residence  abroad. 

Mr.  Hood's  father,  however,  who  is  now  at  the  head  of 
several  collieries,  did  not  attain  his  position  by  such  means. 
At  the  age  of  ten  he  was  working  at  the  surface,  and  is 
entirely  a  self-made  man,  so  that  there  are  other  modes  of 
becoming  an  engineer  than  those  which  were  at  his  son's 
disposal. 

In  my  visits  to  the  mine  I  was  accompanied  by  Mr. 
Armstrong,  who  is  also  a  self-made  man.  He  never  wielded 
the  pick,  but  he  has  been  employed  in  mines  since  his  child- 
hood. He  has  not  only  a  practical  knowledge  of  all  branches 
of  the  work,  but  he  has  also  been  able  to  make  a  living  by  the 
use  to  which  he  has  put  it.  His  elementary  education  enabled 
him  to  survey  the  workings,  and  to  act  as  a  sort  of  under- 
ground geometer.  At  the  same  time  that  he  was  acquiring 
the  most  valuable  practical  experience  by  constant  dealings 
with  the  colliers,  by  superintending  their  work,  and  by  his 
exact  knowledge  of  the  workings,  he  was  also  attending  special 
evening,  and  sometimes  afternoon,  classes  in  Edinburgh,  which 
ultimately  enabled  him  to  obtain  a  certificate.  An  intelligent 
youth  can  thus,  notwithstanding  want  of  means,  manage  in 

L 


146  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

this  way,  but  he  must  have  energy  and  determination  to  succeed 
in  finding  time  to  attend  classes  and  to  prepare  for  examina- 
tions after  a  hard  day's  work  in  the  pit. 

This  is  an  entirely  different  method,  and  one  much  in 
honour  in  England.  In  France  a  little  surprise  is  always 
caused  by  these  practical  methods  of  instruction.  The  art  of 
mining,  it  is  thought,  should  be  studied  in  text -books,  and 
attempted  only  after  a  course  of  general  study  of  a  very 
comprehensive  nature.  A  mining  engineer's  career  is  regarded 
as  the  envied  prize  awarded  to  the  most  brilliant  students  of 
the  ficole  poly  technique,  or,  at  a  lower  level,  as  the  result  of 
a  long  training  in  special  professional  schools.  This  latter 
method  is  by  no  means  ignored  in  England,  and  is  employed 
in  certain  institutions,  but  it  is  not  characteristic  of  the 
national  genius,  and  I  doubt  whether  English  Schools  of  Mines 
would  compare  favourably  with  French.1  This  would  also 
seem  to  be  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Hood,  since  he  preferred  to 
study  in  Belgium  and  Germany,  instead  of  in  Great  Britain. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  English  excel  in  training  men  to 
direct  undertakings  by  means  of  practical  acquaintance  with 
them,  and  by  teaching  them  the  knowledge  necessary  for  such 
direction  by  and  through  their  actual  work.  Engineers  thus 
trained  have  less  general  education  than  French  engineers,  but 
they  know  their  particular  trade  to  perfection,  while  they  retain 
more  originality,  more  curiosity,  and  more  ingenuity  than  men 
who  have  served  a  long  apprenticeship  to  docility  in  one  of 
the  great  French  schools,  and  their  memories  have  not  been 
developed  to  such  an  extent  as  to  stifle  the  faculty  of  invention. 

I  asked  Mr.  Hood  about  the  subjects  in  which  Mr.  Arm- 
strong was  examined.  "  Chiefly  practical  matters,"  he  told 
me ;  "  ventilation  of  mines,  drainage,  etc." 

Consulting  the  official  programme  of  the  Science  and 
Art  Department,  I  was  struck  by  the  absence  of  all  matter 
inserted  for  the  purpose  of  eliminating  candidates,  and  prevent- 
ing the  profession  from  becoming  overcrowded.  The  examiners 
are  dealing  not  with  college  students,  but  with  professionals. 
If  the  candidates  are  not  qualified  to  become  engineers,  they 
must  remain  foremen  or  workmen,  if  they  can  find  work  as 

1  For  the  same  phenomenon  in  the  United  States,  see  American  Life,  pp. 
394,  395. 


CHAP,  ii  IN  MINES  147 

such,  while  if  they  possess  the  necessary  qualifications  they 
will  obtain  a  recognition  of  it  and  pass  as  engineers,  supposing 
they  can  find  work  as  such. 

I  append  a  few  extracts  from  the  official  regulations  issued 
by  the  Science  and  Art  Department  for  the  examination  in 
the  principles  of  mining.1  The  preamble  runs  :  "  This  subject 
is  naturally  divisible  into  the  two  branches  of  Coal  Mining  and 
Metalliferous  Mining,  and  to  suit  candidates  who  have  studied, 
or  who  have  been  practically  engaged  in,  either  branch,  the 
examination  papers  will  be  set  in  three  sections — A,  General ; 
B,  Coal;  C,  Metalliferous." 

It  will  be  sufficient  to  enumerate  the  heads  given  in  the 
syllabus  for  advanced  candidates  to  show  their  special  and 
practical  character. 

1.  Mineral  Geology  and  Geography. 

2.  Exploration  and  Searching. 

3.  Breaking  Ground. 

4.  Deep  Boring  for  the  discovery  and  working  of  Minerals. 

5.  Details  of  opening  Ground. 

6.  Methods  of  working  Minerals. 

7.  Ventilation  of  Mines. 

8.  Lighting  of  Workings. 

9.  Underground  Conveyance. 

10.  Drawing  and  Winding. 

11.  Drainage  of  Mines. 

12.  Travelling  in  Shafts  and  Levels. 

13.  Surface  arrangements  of  Mines. 

14.  Dressing  of  Minerals. 

15.  Surveys  and  Plans  of  Mines. 

The  programme  for  the  first  or  elementary  stage  is 
rather  less  comprehensive.  The  official  document  specifies 
that  questions  will  treat  principally  of  the  simpler  operations 
in  actual  mining,  such  as  the  use  of  tools  (urith  details  of  form 
and  dimensions)  in  driving,  sinking,  and  getting  minerals ;  the 
cutting  and  setting  of  timber;  the  construction  of  simple 
machines ;  the  characters  of  beds  and  veins,  and  the  composition 
and  characters  of  the  commoner  useful  minerals.  The  regulations 
for  ensuring  safety  in  dangerous  operations,  such  as  blasting, 
and  the  removal  of  minerals  and  the  management  of  lights  in 
fiery  mines,  should  be  familiar  to  candidates;  and  they  should 

1  The  programme  has  been  recast  since  this  chapter  was  originally  written, 
but  the  changes  introduced  are  not  such  as  to  modify  what  has  already  been  said. 


148  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

have  some  knowledge  of  the  mechanical  principles  involved  in 
the  processes  of  ventilation,  winding,  pumping,  and  the  dressing 
of  minerals.  Questions  may  be  asked  upon  the  general 
characters  of  the  larger  machines,  but  without  requiring  much 
detailed  description. 

In  the  second  or  advanced  stage  candidates  are  expected 
to  show  some  knowledge  of  details  in  their  answers,  and  should 
be  able  to  give  proper  sketches  with  dimensions  when  necessary 
in  support  of  their  written  descriptions.  They  should  be  able 
to  discuss  the  methods  of  occurrence  and  working  of  minerals  in 
some  district  (of  their  own  knowledge),  and  also  be  generally 
familiar  with  those  of  other  districts  from  study.  The 
constructive  details  of  the  machinery  and  engineering  works  of 
mines  should  also  be  studied  in  addition  to  the  general 
principles.  Exactness  will  be  expected  in  all  that  relates  to 
numbers,  dimensions,  and  weights,  and  as  neat  and  accurate 
drawing  as  the  time  will  permit. 

In  the  third  or  honours  stage  candidates  will  be  ex- 
pected to  show  a  knowledge  of  the  structure  and  working 
details  of  some  of  the  coal-fields  and  metallic  mining  districts  of 
the  United  Kingdom,  and  of  the  more  important  ones  of  foreign 
countries ;  to  be  able  to  discuss  and  illustrate  the  details  of 
different  classes  of  mining  machinery,  such  as  those  for  pump- 
ing, winding,  and  ventilation ;  the  laying  out,  working,  and 
management  of  coal  and  metal  mines,  with  details  of  working 
staff  and  economic  arrangement,  and  the  details  of  dressing 
machinery  and  plant  required  for  treating  particular  quantities 
of  stuff. 

The  paper  will  practically  be  divided  into  three  parts : — 

1.  Geological  and  Structural, 

2.  Mechanical, 

3.  Mining  proper, 

and  answers  showing  proficiency  in  any  one  or  two  of  these 
will  be  of  more  value  than  a  large  number  of  vague  or  short 
answers  in  all  three. 

This  method  of  making  engineers,  so  different  from  that 
adopted  in  France,  has  very  interesting  consequences  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  relations  between  masters  and  men.  The 
young  man  who  spends  his  youth  in  the  pit  with  his  comrades, 


CHAP,  ii  IN  MINES  149 

and  shuts  himself  up  to  study  while  they  are  loafing  or 
drinking,  is  at  once  their  equal  and  their  superior.  Though  of 
the  same,  or  approximately  the  same,  origin,  he  represents  the 
picked  few,  and  stands  on  a  higher  plane,  both  as  a  workman 
and  as  an  individual,  and  although  there  may  be  no  appreciable 
distinction  of  class  between  him  and  the  average  collier,  there 
is  a  very  appreciable  distinction  of  personality.  From  this 
point  of  view  it  is  much  easier  for  a  capable  man  to  rise  in 
aristocratic  England  than  in  democratic  France,  so  called.  The 
path  which  leads  from  the  position  of  workman  to  the  position 
of  master  is  simpler  and  more  direct.  This  is  particularly 
noticeable  in  the  mining  world,  where  advanced  knowledge 
is  essential  for  directing  the  work.  In  France,  on  the  plea  of 
the  necessities  of  this  training,  the  child  is  required  to  choose 
his  career  on  leaving  the  primary  school.  If  he  wishes  to  rise 
he  must  shun  the  practical  side  and  devote  himself  betimes  to 
studying  programmes  and  preparing  for  examinations.  On 
this  condition  and  on  no  other  can  he  become  an  engineer.  In 
England  and  Scotland,  on  the  other  hand,  he  may  work  for  his 
living  at  the  practical  part  and  at  the  same  time  try  to  rise 
higher.  If  he  succeeds  he  will  have  less  general  knowledge, 
than  in  France ;  if  he  fails  he  will  merely  fall  back  to  his 
position  of  working  man  ;  he  will  remain  a  mining  surveyor  or 
underground  manager,  but  he  will  not  be  dddassd,1 

The  cttdasst  is  an  individual  trained  to  practise  a  special- 
ism for  which  he  has  not  the  necessary  aptitudes,  unac- 
customed to  ordinary  manual  work,  and  incapable  of  earning 
his  living  as  a  working  man.  Such  men  exist  wherever  schools 
for  training  specialists  require  all  their  time  and  keep  them  in 
pupillage  till  they  are  eighteen  or  twenty.  Where  the  technical 
school  deals  with  men  actually  engaged  at  the  work,  and  aims 
at  completing  the  knowledge  they  have  acquired  in  their 
practical  work  by  the  necessary  intellectual  work,  there  cannot 
be  dtdassfe. 

In  other  words,  there  cannot  be  cUdassts  where  individuals 
are  classified  by  their  recognised  aptitude  for  direction,  instead 
of  by  an  artificial  process  of  selection.  But  then  society  as  a 
whole  must  feel  a  sincere  esteem  for  true  work.  A  boy  whose 

1  "  I  do  not  know  an  English  equivalent  for  this  word,"  says  M.  de  Rousiers, 
"  and  I  do  not  think  there  is  one.     The  phenomenon  is  not  an  English  one." 


ISO  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

intelligence  has  been  recognised  by  his  form  master  must 
not  feel  that  he  is  lowering  himself  by  starting  life  as  an 
ordinary  workman.  There  must  be  no  distinction  in  the 
upper  classes  of  society  between  higher  and  lower  professions. 
The  man  engaged  in  industry  or  commerce  should  not  have  to 
blush  before  the  civil  servant  or  the  soldier.  This  is  what  is 
needed  in  France  to  avoid  cttdassement,  and  consequently 
dfolasste  are  found  in  every  grade  of  society.  In  England, 
curious  to  say,  they  are  found  only  at  the  summit  and  not  at 
the  base  of  the  social  pyramid.  The  son  of  a  peer  or  of  a  rich 
commoner,  who  has  been  educated  at  Eton  or  Harrow  and 
then  sent  to  Oxford  or  Cambridge,  is  often  at  a  loss  to  find  a 
position  in  life  corresponding  to  his  habits  and  tastes.  If  he 
does  not  feel  drawn  to  politics,  the  church,  the  army,  or  the 
Civil  Service,  he  will  be  greatly  embarrassed,  for  he  is  prevented 
from  entering  the  ordinary  professions  by  the  prejudices  of  his 
education.  Unless  under  exceptional  circumstances,  he  will 
not  go  into  business,  because  nobody  does.  Thus  he  becomes  a 
dfolasst,  clinging  to  positions  he  cannot  hold  and  repelled  from 
those  in  which  he  might  have  succeeded. 

In  England,  however,  the  upper  class  is  small  and  confined 
within  narrow  limits.  Although  the  phenomenon  may  affect  a 
few  noble  families  or  very  wealthy  commoners,  yet  an  enormous 
number  of  what  would  in  France  be  considered  old  and  wealthy 
families  escape  altogether,  and  the  prejudices  of  a  handful  of 
the  nobility  do  not  affect  the  general  feeling.  There  is  there- 
fore nothing  surprising  in  the  fact  that  technical  education  has 
been  organised  so  as  to  render  ordinary  work  fruitful,  and  not 
so  as  to  avoid  contact  with  it,  as  in  France. 

There  is  a  remarkable  resemblance  in  this  respect  between 
technical  education  in  England  and  technical  education  in  the 
United  States.  There,  even  more  than  in  England,  intellectual 
power  does  not  count  for  so  much  by  itself  in  the  direction  of 
various  branches  of  industry  as  when  it  completes  the  experi- 
ence drawn  from  practical  acquaintance  with  the  matter.  There 
are  no  cUdassts  in  America  either.1 

It  is  important  to  understand  this  fact  in  order  to  have  a 
sound  understanding  of  English  labour  conflicts.  In  France, 
in  similar  cases,  there  are  elements  of  antagonism  and  disorder 
1  See  the  chapter  on  Education  in  American  Life. 


CHAP,  ii  IN  MINES  151 

which  rarely  occur  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Channel.  They 
are  generally  organised  by  men  who  have  been  failures, 
whereas  we  shall  see  that  this  is  not  the  case  in  England 
or  Scotland. 

To  return  to  the  subject  under  discussion,  and  to  complete 
the  portrait  of  the  colliery  employer  in  Great  Britain,  it  should 
be  added  that  the  engineer  is,  far  more  often  than  in  France, 
not  merely  a  professional  man  engaged  in  opening  up  a  colliery, 
but  the  actual  director.  We  saw  that  Mr.  Hood  long  worked 
White  Hill  Colliery  in  his  own  name,  that  he  is  still  the  life 
and  soul  of  the  Lothian  Coal  Company  which  he  founded,  and 
that  when  the  Eosewell  miners  speak  of  "  the  master,"  he  is 
always  the  person  referred  to. 

This  emphasises  the  real  differences  between  the  man  and 
the  master,  which  is  due  not  merely  to  the  technical  aptitudes 
required  for  the  reasoned  and  scientific  exploitation  of  a 
mine,  but  still  more  to  the  aptitudes  for  complex  organisa- 
tion required  in  the  difficult  task  of  managing  a  large  staff. 
The  same  man  is  at  once  capitalist,  industrial  engineer,  and 
governor  of  a  little  society.  At  any  moment  he  may  have  to 
decide  questions  of  financial  organisation,  of  industrial  measures, 
and  of  technical  details  connected  with  the  working  of  the 
mine,  and  beside  all  this  he  may  have  to  deal  with  a  series  of 
social  problems.  It  was  very  interesting,  consequently,  to 
listen  to  Mr.  Hood's  conversation,  which  showed  his  interest 
from  more  than  one  point  of  view  in  such  questions  as  miners' 
dwellings,  their  education,  the  investment  of  their  savings,  and 
their  intemperate  habits.  He  told  me,  for  instance,  that  the 
last  workmen's  dwellings  built  in  Eosewell  were  of  a  much 
better  type.  They  had  a  flower-garden,  larger  rooms,  and 
larger  doors  and  windows.  Of  course  the  rent  was  higher,  but 
nevertheless  they  were  greatly  run  after.  This  he  will  bear  in 
mind  in  building  new  ones,  since  it  is  now  demonstrated  that 
by  raising  the  standard  of  comfort  in  artisan  dwellings  to  this 
level  he  is  meeting  their  expressed  desires.  Again,  being  in  a 
position  to  let  his  houses  as  he  chose,  he  thought  to  work 
wonders  by  refusing  to  accept  any  dealer  in  intoxicating 
liquors  as  a  tenant,  in  order  to  prevent  their  sale  in  Eosewell. 
Unfortunately  there  is  as  much  or  more  drinking,  but  it  is  done 
at  home,  so  Mr.  Hood  is  beginning  to  wonder  whether  it  would 


i$2  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

not  be  better  to  start  a  public-house,  and  is  disposed  to  try  the 
experiment. 

Here  we  have  a  sphere  of  action  very  far  removed  from 
that  of  the  mere  head  of  a  workshop.  When  Brown  sees  that 
his  men  drink  and  gamble,  and  are  without  a  penny  in  hand, 
he  says  they  are  a  bad  lot  and  thinks  no  more  of  the  matter. 
What  indeed  could  he  do  ?  But  the  man  who  exercises 
authority  over  the  entire  population  of  a  village  feels  it  both 
possible  and  necessary  to  use  his  power  for  their  good :  the 
sense  of  new  responsibilities  awakens  in  him,  and  he  finds  him- 
self grappling  with  real  problems  of  government. 

There  is  still  a  side  of  the  master's  work  which  we  have 
not  examined — the  commercial  side.  The  whole  question  of 
working  is  dominated  by  that  of  markets.  How  does  the 
master  come  at  them  ?  How  does  the  state  of  the  trade  in 
coal  affect  the  carrying  on  of  the  mine  ?  That  is  the  next 
point  to  consider. 

III. — The  Clientele  and  the  Hazards  of  the  Trade  in  Coal. 

In  undertaking  to  work  a  colliery,  it  is  necessary  to  estimate 
as  exactly  as  possible  the  probable  net  cost  of  the  coal  extracted, 
a  very  complicated  calculation,  and  one  liable  to  many  sur- 
prises. Then  this  net  cost,  subject  as  it  already  is  to  so  many 
hazards,  is  compared  with  the  probable  selling  price.  Thus  a 
rough  balance  is  struck  in  advance  between  expenses  and  receipts. 
The  second  term  of  the  comparison,  however,  is  as  variable  as 
the  first  is  uncertain. 

During  the  great  English  coal  strike  of  1893  I  asked  Mr. 

S of  Glasgow,  a  large  exporter  of  coal,  whether  his  business 

was  much  affected  by  the  long  interruption  of  work  in  the  pits 
of  Wales  and  the  Midlands,  which  did  not,  however,  extend  to 
Scotland.  "  I  should  think  so,"  was  his  reply ;  "  before  the 
strike  the  wholesale  price  of  average  Scottish  coal  in  Glasgow 
was  Vs.  6d.  per  ton,  while  to-day  we  quote  it  at  11s.,  a 
difference  of  5  0  per  cent  in  a  couple  of  months.  Now  if  work 
were  resumed  to-morrow  in  the  Midlands  (the  conversation 
took  place  on  the  20th  of  September)  we  should  have  a  fall 
of  30  per  cent  in  less  than  a  fortnight.  You  see  the 
difference." 


CHAP,  ii  IN  MINES  153 

It  is  true  that  this  was  in  the  midst  of  a  crisis,  but  even 
in  quieter  times  the  price  of  coal  also  varies,  although  in  a 
much  slighter  degree.  From  February  1891  to  March  1893 
the  price  of  the  ton  had  passed  in  Northumberland  from  7  '9  6  4s. 
to  6196s. ;  from  February  1891  to  June  1893,  on  the  eve  of 
the  great  strike,  it  had  fallen  in  South  Wales  from  13s.  5d.  to 
9s.  Old.1 

The  masters  feel  the  effect  of  these  variations  in  a  manner 
more  or  less  immediate.  Sometimes,  indeed,  they  sell  directly 
to  consumers,  sometimes  to  a  great  merchant  like  my  friend  in 
Glasgow,  sometimes  they  have  a  contract  for  a  long  period 
with  a  manufacturer,  and  are  obliged  to  supply  coal  at  the 
price  specified,  whether  the  market  price  rises  or  falls.  Hence 
arise  a  variety  of  combinations,  which  are  open  to  great  risks. 
Mr.  Hood  explained  to  me  that  he  disposes  of  the  Eosewell 
coal  in  various  ways.  In  the  first  place,  he  employs  travellers 
who  work  up  and  extend  his  connection ;  next  he  has  agents 
in  different  towns  on  the  Baltic  coast ;  and  finally,  he  also 
supplies  wholesale  dealers. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  under  these  conditions  the  question 
of  placing  his  coal  is  a  very  important  matter  for  the  colliery 
owner,  and  one  which  requires  highly  developed  commercial 
aptitudes.  The  variations  in  the  price  of  coal,  however 
great  their  importance,  form  but  one  side  of  the  question, 
and  are  bound  up  with  a  crowd  of  other  circumstances 
upon  which  they  act  and  react.  Some  of  these  I  shall  now 
point  out. 

The  clientele  of  the  collieries  of  Great  Britain  is  not  merely 
national,  but  foreign.  The  immense  industrial  consumption 
of  this  country  of  factories,  the  considerable  domestic  con- 
sumption of  a  numerous  population  collected  into  towns,  and 
requiring  coal  for  fuel  and  gas  for  lighting,  the  enormous  con- 
sumption in  steam  transport,  all  these  would  not  suffice 
to  absorb  the  millions  of  tons  annually  extracted  from 
the  bowels  of  the  earth.  The  rich  underground  kingdom 
of  the  English  and  Scottish  coal-fields  has  often  been 
called  the  Black  Indies,  and  the  expression  will  hardly  seem 
exaggerated  if  we  consider  the  figures  shown  by  the  following 
statistics : — 

1  Labour  Gazette,  July  1893,  p.  60. 


154 


THE  LABOUR  QUESTION 

In  1886  Great  Britain  produced  157,412,919  tons  of  coal 
1887  „         162,013,108 


PART  II 


1888 
1889 
1890 
1891 
1892 


169,843,315 
176,813,523 
181,512,021 
185,373,445 
181,674,990 


If  the  same  rate  of  progress  continues  for  the  next  seven 
years,  the  production  will  have  passed  the  colossal  figure  of 
200,000,000  tons. 

About  a  sixth  of  the  coal  extracted  in  Great  Britain  is 
at  present  exported,  but  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the  proportion 
is  liable  to  vary.  Such  a  bulky  article  of  commerce  is  not 
easy  of  transport,  and  there  is  an  inevitable  tendency  to 
purchase  as  near  home  as  possible,  so  that  a  distant  clientele 
is  easily  lost. 

As  for  the  Eosewell  coal  in  particular,  it  is  consumed 
principally  on  the  Baltic  coast  and  for  industrial  purposes,  as 
it  is  a  steam  coal.  It  is  shipped  at  Leith,  and  sent  by  sea  to 
its  destination,  and  is  thus  enabled  to  compete  with  German 
coal,  although  this  competition  would  become  impossible  if 
railway  rates  were  lowered.  Germany,  of  course,  is  a  great 
coal  country,  ranking  next  to  Great  Britain,  with  about 
one-third  as  much,  which,  however,  has  lately  increased  at  a 
rapid  rate.  The  Euhr  coal-field  at  present  produces  more 
than  28,000,000  tons  yearly,  a  quantity  equal  to  more  than 
40  per  cent  of  all  the  French  collieries  put  together.2  It  is  a 
hazardous  enterprise  to  export  coal  to  a  country  which  produces 
so  much,  and  it  is  necessary  to  play  cautiously  to  keep  the  advan- 
tage in  the  face  of  the  inevitable  competition  of  German  coal. 

Eosewell  is  not  the  only  colliery  which  sends  coal  to  the 
Baltic,  which  is  the  principal  market  for  all  collieries  using 
Leith  as  their  port.  I  met  a  coal-dealer  in  Leith,  belonging 
originally  to  Schleswig-Holstein,  Danish  in  sympathy,  German 
in  fact,  and  about  to  naturalise  as  an  English  subject.  He  is  a 
natural  link  between  Scotland  and  the  Baltic,  and  this  helps 
him  considerably  in  his  business.  Further,  we  have  the 

1  Labour  Gazette,,  October  1893,  p.  130. 

2  Ouvriers  des  Deux-Mondes,  2nd  series,  14th  number :  "  Monograph  of  the 
Silesian  Miner  in  the  Coal  Basin  of  the  Ruhr  (Rhenish  Prussia),"  by  L.  Fevre, 
mining  engineer,  p.  270. 


CHAP,  ii  IN  MINES  155 

eloquent  figures  furnished  by  the  statistics  of  the  Board  of 
Trade.  In  1891  out  of  4^-  million  tons  of  coal  exported  from 
Scotland,  1,334,000  tons  were  sent  to  Germany,  more  than 
700,000  tons  to  Denmark,  400,000  tons  to  Russia,  more  than 
600,000  to  Norway  and  Sweden,  that  is  to  say,  more  than 
3,000,000  were  consigned  to  the  Baltic.1 

The  collieries  of  the  Lothians,  situated  near  the  eastern 
coast  of  Scotland,  as  a  rule  send  coal  for  export  to  Leith ;  but 
as  they  are  also  only  an  hour  by  rail  from  Glasgow  they  can 
thus  ship  it  on  the  west  coast  without  great  expense.  Glasgow 
furnishes  nearly  a  quarter  of  the  total  export  of  coal  from 
Scotland,  but  the  geographical  position  modifies  the  direction 
of  its  consignment.  The  Clyde  steamers  often  dispose  of  their 
cargo  of  coal  in  France  or  Spain,  although  a  great  number  also 
trade  with  Norway  and  Sweden.  In  1892,  according  to  the 
English  Custom  House,  France  alone  received  170,492  tons  of 
coal,  out  of  780,829  tons  shipped  in  Glasgow.  The  shipowner 
who  gave  me  this  information  complained  greatly  that  France 
and  Spain  are  becoming  less  and  less  dependent  on  imported 
coal,  and  are  tending  to  consume  coal  drawn  from  their  own 
mines.  Thus  two  markets  are  seriously  threatened.  The 
danger  is  all  the  more  grave  because  domestic  consumption  in 
various  localities  has  taken  certain  special  forms  which  may 
any  day  cease.  "  To  La  Eochelle  and  Eochefort,"  said  Mr. 

S ,  "  I  send  a  coal  which  burns  without  flame ;  while  to 

Bordeaux,  on  the  other  hand,  I  send  a  coal  which  burns  with 
a  flame."  If  during  a  crisis,  or  in  time  of  strike,  Scotland 
suspends  or  diminishes  her  consignments,  and  if  the  inhabitants 

1  Table  of  export  of  coal  from  Scotland  in  1891  (after  Board  of  Trade) : — 

Belgium        ....  135,385  tons. 

Denmark       ....  713,526 

France           ....  476,024 

Germany       ....  1,334,023 

Holland        .            .             .            .  88,100 

Italy 225,303 

Norway         ....  287,567 

Russia           ....  339,993 

Spain             ....  73,110 

Sweden         ....  828,572 

Other  Countries        .            .            .  435,091 

Total  .  .     4,436,694    ,, 


156  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

of  La  Eochelle  at  this  juncture  use  French  coal  producing  more 
flame,  or  the  people  of  Bordeaux  content  themselves  with  a 
coal  which  produces  less,  their  exclusiveness  may  possibly 
undergo  some  modification,  and  then  there  will  be  another 
Scottish  market  closed  or  compromised. 

This  rapid  survey  of  the  clientele  of  the  mines  will  suffice, 
I  think,  to  convince  the  reader  of  the  enormous  difficulties  with 
which  the  coal  trade  has  to  contend  in  order  to  keep  a  proper 
equilibrium  between  production  and  consumption.  How  is  it 
possible  to  calculate  in  advance  with  any  exactness  quantities 
made  up  of  so  many  different  elements  ?  Who  can  foresee 
how  the  working  of  a  new  coal  basin  may  close  markets  ?  or 
what  the  creation  of  a  new  industry  may  open  ?  Moreover, 
owing  to  the  considerable  preparatory  works  which  have  to  be 
undertaken  in  most  mines,  and  the  enormous  working  expenses 
involved,  it  is  impossible  to  produce  in  small  quantities  without 
loss.  Many  tons  are  required  before  the  sum  of  the  profits 
realised  on  each  covers  the  expenses  of  opening  and  upkeep. 
The  master  is  thus  impelled  to  produce  as  much  as  possible, 
and  is  forced  to  do  so  by  the  special  requirements  of  the  enter- 
prise he  directs,  and  by  the  necessities  which  affect  him 
directly.  It  is  useless  to  urge  upon  him  that  by  extracting 
an  ever-increasing  quantity  he  is  running  the  risk  of  contri- 
buting to  a  crisis  caused  by  over-production.  A  general  state 
of  depression  in  the  coal  trade  is  better  for  him  than  a  personal 
discomfiture. 

Thus  stocks  of  coal  inevitably  accumulate  and  burden  the 
yards,  causing  a  fall  in  prices,  and  consequently  in  wages,  as 
well  as  much  disturbance  in  the  coal  world. 

This  phenomenon  generally  foreruns  a  great  strike.  On 
the  eve  of  that  which  marked  the  year  1893,  in  the  month  of 
March,  the  Congress  of  the  National  Miners'  Federation,  meet- 
ing at  Birmingham,  denounced  the  danger  of  over-production, 
and  sought  to  remedy  it.  Two  propositions  were  considered. 
The  first  sought  to  limit  work  in  the  mines  to  four  days  a 
week  for  some  time,  the  other  demanded  a  general  suspension 
of  work  for  four  weeks.  Both  had  the  same  reception,  and 
were  rejected  by  a  majority  of  the  Congress.  The  miners, 
like  their  masters,  were  unwilling  to  sacrifice  a  certain  personal 
advantage  for  an  uncertain  general  advantage. 


CHAP,  ii  IN  MINES  157 

If  crises  of  over-production  bring  about  strikes,  the  fear  of 
them  makes  masters  little  inclined  to  accumulate  stocks  of  coal 
when  orders  fall  off.  This  leads  to  great  irregularity  of 
employment  in  many  mines,  especially  in  those  which  chiefly 
produce  coal  for  heating  purposes.  In  summer  the  demand  for 
this  coal  is  slack,  and  to  avoid  over-stocking  and  a  fall  in 
prices  the  masters  are  obliged  to  resort  to  partial  stoppages. 
Instead  of  working  the  full  week,  the  men  work  three  or  four 
days  a  week  only,  or  else  they  work  short  hours  daily.  These 
necessary  measures  are  very  prejudicial  to  the  prosperity  of 
the  enterprises,  and  they  have  a  disastrous  effect  on  the 
well-being  of  the  men,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  show 
later. 

What  we  are  in  a  position  to  note  at  present  is  that  over- 
production and  irregularity  of  employment  have  especially  dis- 
astrous consequences  in  mines.  We  have  seen  that  the  collier 
is  exclusively  attached  to  his  particular  calling,  and  further 
that  the  isolated  situation  of  many  collieries  tends  to  tighten 
the  links  which  bind  the  miner  to  the  mine.  In  the  presence 
of  a  situation  which  disturbs  the  equilibrium  between  supply 
and  demand  in  the  case  of  coal  the  miner  is  confronted 
with  a  dilemma.  Either  he  must  for  the  moment  cease  work, 
or  he  must  for  the  moment  cease  to  be  a  miner.  He  does  not 
accept  the  second  alternative,  for  a  collier  is  always  a  collier 
and  so  he  is  sometimes  a  collier  without  work,  without  money, 
and  without  food. 

This  absence  of  flexibility  assimilates  the  mining  industry, 
notwithstanding  the  difference  of  scale,  to  those  small  highly- 
specialised  trades  whose  dangerous  condition  has  already  been 
examined.  Hitherto  the  ever-increasing  utilisation  of  coal  for 
industrial  purposes  has  prevented  miners  from  feeling  all  the 
disadvantages  of  the  close  corporation.  They  have  experienced 
temporary  crises,  but  they  knew  that  sooner  or  later  they 
would  be  needed,  that  the  food  of  industry  would  give  out,  and 
that  it  would  be  required  at  any  price.  Thus  they  occupy, 
relative  to  the  industrial  clientele,  the  position  of  a  monopolist 
of  corn  relatively  to  a  country  where  dearth  prevails.  It- 
depends  on  them  to  starve  out  the  industrial  clientele,  and  they 
can  then  dictate  their  terms.  This  is  why  miners  so  often 
assume  the  tone  of  masters,  but  is  not  their  monopoly  already 


158  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

somewhat  threatened  ?  Will  industry  always  depend  on  coal  ? 
Will  it  not  manage  to  escape  from  its  tyranny  in  some  appreci- 
able degree  ?  Some  symptoms  seem  to  lend  colour  to  such  a 
belief. 

During  the  strike  of  1893  some  English  railway  companies, 
short  of  coal,  tried  the  experiment  of  using  petroleum,  and 
succeeded  very  well,  it  is  said.  This  is  a  very  significant 
circumstance.  Coal  at  a  certain  price  ceases  to  be  profitable 
for  the  generation  of  steam,  and  can  be  replaced  by  another 
combustible  mineral  which  America  and  the  Caucasus  yield  in 
abundance. 

Take  another  fact.  Electricity  is  also  capable  of  driving 
locomotives — it  lights,  warms,  works  machines,  and  propels 
trains.  The  electric  energy  is,  it  is  true,  often  generated  by 
the  aid  of  steam,  and  here  coal  plays  its  part ;  but  wherever  a 
waterfall  is  available  it  is  called  into  requisition.  The  Americans 
obtain  50,000  horse-power  from  Niagara ;  the  Genevese  borrow 
12,000  horse-power  from  the  Ehone,  which  they  utilise  for 
lighting,  for  transport,  and  for  working  machinery.  M.  Leon 
Dryion,  engineer-in-chief  at  Avignon,  lately  proposed  to  bring 
6000  electric  horse-power  to  Marseilles  and  Toulon  by  utilising 
the  water-power  in  the  neighbourhood.1  There  is  no  lack 
to-day  of  examples  of  the  long-distance  transmission  of 
electricity. 

Of  course  this  does  not  prove  that  the  coal  age  is  about  to 
lose  its  name,  but  it  suggests  at  least  that  the  use  of  coal  is 
no  longer  destined  to  follow  a  development  absolutely  parallel 
with  that  of  industry.  Henceforth  there  will  be  other  powerful 
sources  of  motive  force,  which  can  be  more  easily  utilised,  and 
everything  leads  to  the  belief  that  electricity  has  not  yet  said 
its  last  word. 

It  is  not  impossible,  therefore,  to  foresee  a  state  of  things 
in  which  industry  might  partly  free  itself  from  its  dependence 
on  the  production  of  coal,  in  which  case  the  production  of  coal 
would  lose  the  privileged  position  it  enjoys  to-day.  Should 
such  a  day  come,  the  mining  population  would  experience  a 
crisis  of  which  strikes  and  the  present  interruptions  of  work 
can  give  no  idea.  It  would  be  forced  to  change  its  trade, 

1  See  the  Causerie  scientifique  of  M.  Max  de  Nansouty,  Temps,  20th  January 
1894. 


CHAP,  ii  IN  MINES  159 

and  for  this  we  already  know  that  the  majority  are  but  ill 
prepared. 

Even  now  its  attachment  to  the  mine  gives  a  specially 
acute  and  grave  character  to  crises  in  the  coal  trade.  To 
understand  this  we  must  see  what  sufferings  are  inflicted  on 
this  population  by  a  great  strike  or  by  a  prolonged  stoppage 
of  the  pits.  We  shall  understand  it  better  when  we  have 
been  into  a  workman's  home  and  observed  the  daily  life  of  one 
of  those  mining  families  which  are  so  cruelly  affected  when 
their  means  of  existence  are  suddenly  withdrawn. 


CHAPTEE    III 

A  MINER'S  FAMILY  IN  THE  LOTHIANS 

WE  are  already  acquainted  with  Fisher,  the  miner  of  White 
Hill  Colliery,  who  returned  to  Scotland'  to  his  native  village 
after  a  temporary  migration  to  the  United  States.  He  was 
born  at  Eosewell,  and  his  wife  also  belongs  to  the  district.  He 
has  always  worked  in  mines  from  childhood,  his  family  is 
numerous,  he  succeeds  in  bringing  them  up,  and  consequently 
he  affords  a  good  type  for  observation. 

It  is,  indeed,  through  those  who  succeed  in  solving  their 
own  labour  question  that  we  can  familiarise  ourselves  with  the 
problems  which  are  agitating  the  labour  world.  The  task  is 
not  to  invent  solutions  to  these  problems,  but  to  find  out  by 
observation  what  are  effective  solutions.  Fisher  has  found  an 
effective  solution  so  far  as  he  is  concerned.  Let  us,  therefore, 
examine  how  he  set  about  it,  and  then  we  can  with  advantage 
try  to  reproduce  it.  Having  seen  a  miner's  family  content 
with  their  lot,  we  will  ask  the  discontented  what  their 
demands  are,  we  shall  seek  to  find  why  they  suffer,  and  why 
they  do  not  employ  the  means  which  others  have  found  success- 
ful, and  in  what  way  the  remedies  they  advocate  will  facilitate 
the  employment  of  these  means.  Without  such  a  preliminary 
observation  of  a  prosperous  type  it  is  impossible  to  understand 
the  drift  and  bearing  of  the  noisy  claims  which  are  forced 
upon  our  notice. 

I.  How  Fisher  earns  his  Living. 

I  was  put  into  communication  with  Fisher  by  Miss 
Thomson,  the  schoolmistress  of  Kosewell,  and  about  seven 


CHAP,  in         THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  IN  MINES  161 

o'clock  one  evening  I  presented  myself  for  the  first  time  at  his 
house.  I  found  him  just  donning  his  working  dress  to  descend 
the  pit.  Fisher  works  in  the  night-shift,  for  the  task  of  boring 
galleries  in  which  he  takes  part  can  only  be  done  in  the 
absence  of  the  colliers,  and  when  traffic  is  almost  suspended  in 
the  mine.  Consequently  it  was  impossible  to  visit  him  at 
home  in  the  evening.  In  the  morning  he  sleeps,  profiting  by 
the  hours  when  the  children  are  at  school  and  the  house  is  less 
noisy.  We  therefore  made  an  appointment  for  the  afternoon 
of  the  following  day. 

Like  all  the  men  at  White  Hill  Colliery,  Fisher  works  only 
five  days  a  week ;  no  work  is  done  in  the  Lothian  mines  on 
Saturday  and  Sunday.  Some  years  ago  the  men  worked  half 
a  day  on  Saturday,  but  this  custom  has  been  abandoned  in 
favour  of  a  complete  break.  I  asked  Fisher  if  the  miners 
were  contented  with  the  change.  "  Certainly,"  he  replied,  "  it 
was  the  men  who  came  to  that  decision."  He  is  strongly  in 
favour  of  the  change  himself,  and  congratulates  himself  on 
the  marked  shortening  of  the  hours  of  labour.  "  Formerly,"  he 
told  me,  "  when  I  first  began  to  work,  we  had  a  twelve  hours 
day,  whereas  now  it  is  a  nine  hours  day  at  Eosewell,  and  it 
has  been  an  eight  hours  day  everywhere  else  in  East  Lothian 
since  1872.  We  find  ourselves  much  the  better  for  it.  I 
well  remember  what  the  miners  were  like  with  a  twelve  hours 
day.  Scarcely  a  man  looked  at  a  newspaper  or  took  any 
interest  in  politics,  they  went  to  church  much  less  regularly 
than  now,  and  their  life  was  very  dull  In  winter  it  was 
dark  when  they  went  down  the  pit  in  the  morning,  and  it  was 
dark  when  they  came  up  at  night,  and  for  six  weeks  they 
would  never  see  daylight  except  on  Sundays."  "  And  why  do 
you  work  nine  hours  at  Eosewell  ? "  "  We  used  to  have  an 
eight  hours  day  eight  or  nine  years  ago,  like  the  rest  of  East 
Lothian,  but  then  Mr.  Hood  found  himself  affected  by  the 
failure  of  a  Glasgow  bank,  and  asked  us  to  consent  to  a  tem- 
porary nine  hours  day  in  order  to  augment  the  production  and 
his  margin  of  profit.  Ever  since  then  we  have  got  into  the 
habit,  and  now  we  should  not  care  to  go  back  to  the  eight  hours 
day,  because  we  are  used  to  the  higher  wage  we  get  for  the  extra 
hour.  So,  recently,  when  we  had  a  ballot  on  the  compulsory  eight 
hours  day,  the  proposal  was  rejected  here  by  a  large  majority." 

M 


162  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

The  Eosewell  colliers,  then,  spend  forty-five  hours  a  week 
in  the  pit.  The  day-shift,  in  which  the  coal-hewers  work,  and 
which  is  far  the  most  numerous,  goes  down,  as  we  have  seen,  at 
six  in  the  morning  and  comes  up  at  three,  and  half  an  hour's 
break  is  allowed  at  nine  o'clock  for  meals.  The  forty-five 
hours'  work  produces  an  average  wage  which  Fisher  estimates 
at  22s.  a  week,  but  which,  according  to  the  more  exact  infor- 
mation of  Mr.  Armstrong  and  Mr.  Hood,  comes  to  30s.,  or  6s. 
a  working  day.  In  the  Midlands  the  average  daily  wage  is 
7s.  a  day — a  piece  of  information  which  I  obtained  from  Mr. 
Stanley,  the  secretary  of  the  Miners'  Federation  for  that 
district.  Of  course  the  skill  and  vigour  of  the  individual 
colliers  affect  their  respective  wages  to  the  extent  sometimes 
of  2s.  or  3s.  a  day. 

The  value  of  the  stone- worker's  labour  is  still  more  difficult 
to  estimate.  As  I  have  explained,  the  stone-worker  is  a  small 
contractor,  liable  either  to  lose  or  to  make  a  profit.  Fisher 
explained  to  me  that  he  is  always  free  to  cancel  too  hard  a 
contract  by  giving  one  day's  notice  to  the  master,  who  on  his 
side  has  also  the  same  privilege.  Mr.  Hood  told  me  one  day 
during  my  visit  to  Eosewell  that  he  was  going  to  cancel  his 
existing  contract  with  Fisher,  who  had  struck  an  easy  vein  to 
work  and  must  have  made  20s.  the  night  before.  However, 
when  I  questioned  the  latter  a  few  days  before  as  to  his 
weekly  earnings,  he  modestly  estimated  them  at  25s.  Mr. 
Armstrong  assured  me  that  they  could  not  be  less  than  35s., 
and  were  probably  as  much  as  38s.  This  was  also  Mr.  Hood's 
opinion.  The  sum  of  35s.  is  what  I  decided  to  take  as  the 
basis  of  my  calculations. 

It  should  be  remarked  that  this  sum  represents  more  than 
forty-five  hours  of  work.  Like  many  of  his  comrades  in  the 
night -shift,  Fisher  works  about  ten  hours  every  time  he 
descends  the  pit,  or  about  fifty  hours  a  week. 

The  tools  required  by  the  stone-worker  are  more  numerous 
and  complicated  than  the  collier's  tools.  Fisher  values  those 
put  at  his  disposition  by  the  Company  at  £5.  "  Then  you  do 
not  own  your  tools  as  the  collier  owns  his  pick  ? "  "  Oh  no," 
he  replied;  "if  we  had  to  have  £5  worth  of  tools  of  our 
own  before  we  could  take  a  stone-worker's  job  very  few  of  us 
would  volunteer,  and  the  small  number  of  competitors  would 


CHAP,  in  IN  MINES  163 

allow  us  to  impose  our  own  terms  on  the  Company.  It  is 
to  their  advantage  to  supply  our  tools  and  thus  increase  the 
competition."  The  stone-worker  derives  a  small  profit  and 
great  convenience  from  this  arrangement,  and  from  this  point 
of  view  he  is  better  treated  than  the  collier. 

On  the  other  hand,  he  does  not  receive  a  subvention,  which 
indirectly  increases  the  salary  of  the  latter.  The  collier  buys 
coal  from  the  Company  at  a  reduction  of  2s.  a  ton.  Every 
coal-producer  profits  by  this  reduction,  but  the  workers  at  the 
surface  and  the  pony- drivers,  engineers,  stone- workers,  etc., 
engaged  in  the  pit  do  not  share  in  this  advantage. 

These  details  are  necessary  to  enable  us  to  appreciate 
exactly  the  average  daily  wage  which  Fisher  draws  from  his 
occupation.  The  whole  situation,  however,  is  dominated  by 
one  all-important  fact,  the  extreme  infrequency  of  stoppages. 

Not  only  are  strikes  infrequent  at  Eosewell,  as  I  shall 
have  occasion  to  remark,  but  the  sale  of  the  White  Hill 
Colliery  coal  has  always  been  so  steady  that  the  Company  has 
only  once  in  twenty-five  years  resorted  to  a  partial  suspension 
of  work.  "  This  summer"  (1893),  Fisher  told  me, "  we  worked 
only  three  days  a  week  for  three  months,  and  that  is  the  first- 
time  I  have  known  it,  though  I  have  worked  here  twenty 
years." 

On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Stanley,  the  secretary  of  the 
Midland  Counties  Miners'  Federation,  told  me  that  partial 
suspension  of  work  is  almost  the  rule  every  summer  in  the 
Midland  counties.  "  For  five  months,"  he  said,  "  from 
November  to  March,  the  men  work  the  full  week  of  five  and 
three-quarter  days,  coming  up  on  Saturdays  at  two  o'clock. 
But  in  warm  weather,  during  seven  months  of  the  year,  in  the 
present  state  of  depression,  they  do  not  work  more  than  two  or 
three  days  a  week.  This  was  the  case  from  1875  to  1887. 
In  1888  business  was  active  and  they  worked  nearly  the 
whole  year,  but  this  lasted  only  for  a  little  while,  and  now  we 
are  back  at  the  old  state  of  things." 

This  irregularity  of  employment  has  extremely  serious 
consequences  for  the  Midland  colliers.  Further  on  we  shall 
see  how  they  seek  to  remedy  it.  Fisher  and  his  comrades  in 
the  Lothians  escape  this  difficult  problem.  What  is  the 
reason  ? 


164  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

The  reason  of  the  difference  is  not  very  easy  to  disentangle. 
1  see  traces  of  many  influences  which  seem  to  contribute  to  it, 
and  these  I  shall  endeavour  to  point  out. 

In  the  first  place,  the  nature  of  the  Lothian  coal  makes  its 
consumption  more  regular.  It  is  a  coal  especially  fitted  for 
industrial  purposes,  and  steam-engines  burn  as  much  in 
summer  as  in  winter.  If  its  destination  were  industrial  only, 
we  might  content  ourselves  with  this  explanation  of  the 
phenomenon,  but  domestic  consumption  also  counts  in  the 
demand  for  Lothian  coal.  We  have  seen  from  the  statements  of 
Mr.  S ,  the  great  coal  exporter  of  Glasgow,  that  it  is  some- 
times difficult  to  say  whether  such  and  such  an  exported  coal 
will  be  burned  in  a  boiler,  a  cooking  stove,  or  an  open  grate, 
owing  to  the  capricious  nature  of  local  usages.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Midland  coal  is  far  from  being  reserved  for  domestic 
consumption  only :  it  feeds  the  blast  furnaces  of  Birmingham, 
the  Staffordshire  potteries,  and  the  countless  factories  of 
Lancashire,  and  also  furnishes  many  railway  companies  with 
fuel.  Nevertheless,  the  fact  that  it  is  burned  in  winter  in  a 
large  number  of  stoves,  heating  apparatus,  and  open  grates 
certainly  makes  an  appreciable  difference  between  the  summer 
and  winter  sale.  It  is  no  small  matter  to  warm  the  comfort- 
able homes  of  the  Midland  counties.  The  raw  damp  climate 
requires  a  fire  for  health's  sake,  and  the  widespread  habits  of 
material  well-being  are  little  in  favour  of  effecting  a  saving  in 
this  item.  The  first  condition  of  comfort  is  to  be  warm 
in-doors.  We  saw  in  Brown's  house  that  almost  every  room  had 
a  fireplace.  Fisher's  more  modest  dwelling  consists  of  two 
rooms  only,  but  coal  is  burned  there  all  day  in  winter.  Mul- 
tiply this  domestic  consumption — Fisher  burns  about  four  tons 
of  coal  a  winter — by  the  enormous  number  of  separate  homes, 
and  you  will  get  a  huge  total  which  cannot  fail  to  influence 
the  demand. 

The  demand  for  coal,  then,  fluctuates  more  in  the  Midlands 
than  in  the  Lothians,  and  further,  the  influence  of  this  fluctua- 
tion is  more  directly  felt.  The  Midlands  are  less  favourably 
situated  for  export,  and  supply  chiefly  the  home  markets.  The 
Lothians,  on  the  contrary,  send  their  coal  to  the  Baltic.  The 
result  is  that  the  number  of  middlemen  is  smaller,  speaking 
generally,  in  the  Midlands  than  in  the  Lothians,  and  these 


CHAP,  in  IN  MINES  165 

middlemen  are  bound  to  regulate  prices.  Further,  when  the 
coal  trade  is  affected  by  a  local  crisis  in  this  country,  the  other 
markets,  Germany,  Sweden,  France,  etc.,  are  not  thereby 
closed,  and  the  effect  consequently  is  not  only  less  direct,  but 
also  less  violent.  The  Midlands,  on  the  other  hand,  depend 
almost  entirely  on  the  home  market,  and  are  affected  more 
directly  and  with  greater  intensity. 

Of  the  four  coal  basins  in  England,  the  Midland  coal-field 
is  least  favourably  placed  for  foreign  trade.  The  Scottish 
basin  is  encircled  and  penetrated  by  the  sea.  The  estuary 
of  the  Clyde  on  one  side  and  the  Firth  of  Forth  on  the  other 
open  it  up  by  their  long  fiords,  and  form,  as  it  were,  large 
natural  canals.  The  Durham  and  Northumberland  coal-field 
stretches  in  the  direction  of  a  coast -line  with  numerous  and 
excellent  ports,  among  which  it  will  be  sufficient  to  mention 
Newcastle  and  Sunderland.  The  Welsh  coal-field  is  provided 
for  by  the  long  estuary  of  the  Bristol  Channel  In  the 
presence  of  three  rivals  so  well  equipped  for  exportation,  the 
Midland  coal-field  is  quite  naturally  designed  to  carry  on  the 
home  trade. 

Already,  then,  we  have  two  unfavourable  conditions  for 
the  regularity  of  trade.  Both  are  due  to  circumstances  in- 
dependent of  the  mining  population.  There  is  also  a  third, 
where  the  social  condition  of  the  mining  population  seems,  on 
the  contrary,  to  have  exerted  a  certain  influence. 

The  representation  of  the  interests  of  the  working  class 
has  long  been  efficiently  organised  in  the  Midlands.  The  local 
unions  are  powerful,  and  are  grouped  into  numerous  wealthy 
and  ably  governed  federations.  It  follows  that  they  have 
succeeded  in  obtaining  from  the  masters  the  maximum  of 
possible  concessions.  The  average  salary  of  a  miner  in  the 
Midlands  is  7s.  a  day,  while  that  of  a  Scotch  miner  does  not 
exceed  6s.  As  soon  as  a  rise  in  the  price  of  coal  is  declared, 
or  as  soon  as  any  favourable  circumstance  swells  the  master's 
profits,  these  vigilant  Unions  claim  an  advance  in  the  men's 
wages.  Under  these  conditions  the  masters  are  obliged  to  be 
very  particular,  and  to  stop  work  immediately  orders  fall  off. 
They  cannot  afford  to  accumulate  any  stock  unless  they  can 
guarantee  the  sale  at  a  price  previously  fixed. 

All  these  influences  have  combined  to  produce  the  painful 


1 66  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

position  of  which  the  Midland  miners  complain  so  bitterly,  and 
which  they  try  to  remedy  by  means  to  be  examined  later. 
For  Fisher,  on  the  other  hand,  the  problem  does  not  exist. 
Irregularity  of  work  seems  to  him  a  rare  accident,  against 
which  a  little  foresight  will  protect  a  sensible  man,  and  not  a 
frequent  and  periodic  phenomenon  of  long  duration.  When  I 
spoke  to  him  of  the  solutions  proposed  by  the  Midland  Unions, 
in  order  to  see  if  any  of  them- would  attract  him,  I  encountered 
a  marked  indifference,  which  expressed  itself  in  the  remark, 
"  Here  work  is  regular  enough ;  there  is  nothing  to  complain  of." 

This  fortunate  position  greatly  simplified  my  task ;  directly 
I  knew  that  all  Fisher's  weeks  were  full  weeks,  and  had 
reliable  authority  for  estimating  his  average  weekly  wages 
pretty  fairly  at  35s.,  it  became  an  easy  matter  to  calculate  his 
yearly  receipts.  Taking  into  account  the  numerous  holidays 
which  cut  up  work  in  Great  Britain  at  Whitsuntide,  New 
Year,  Easter,  etc.,  and  deducting  ten  days  for  occasional 
stoppages,  the  total  duration  of  his  year's  work  might  be 
estimated  at  forty-five  weeks.  This  would  make  a  total  sum 
of  £84  a  year  earned  in  the  pit. 

To  this  sum  must  be  added  the  wages  of  the  two  eldest 
sons,  who  are  employed,  one  as  under  clerk  in  the  colliery 
office,  and  the  other  as  apprentice  in  the  joiner's  shop 
connected  with  the  mine.  The  first  earns  7s.  6d.,  the  second 
6s.  a  week.  As  these  wages  are  insufficient  to  keep  them, 
they  go  into  the  common  purse,  and  consequently  enter  into 
the  account  of  the  joint  resources  of  the  family,  which  are  thus 
increased  by  £35.  Thus  we  get  a  total  of  £119. 

Fisher  has  a  daughter  in  service  in  Mr.  Hood's  family,  but 
she  has  no  longer  anything  to  do  with  the  family  budget.  She 
is  able  to  support  herself,  and  spends  or  saves  her  wages  as 
she  thinks  fit.  When  the  boys  are  out  of  their  apprenticeship 
and  earn  higher  wages,  they  will  no  longer  continue  to  pay 
the  whole  of  them  into  their  father's  hands.  If  they  still  live 
in  Eosewell,  they  will  pay  a  sum  for  their  board  until  they 
marry  and .  start  housekeeping  separately,  This  was  the 
arrangement  we  saw  in  full  swing  in  Brown's  family  in  the 
case  of  Joe. 

This  question  of  the  children's  wages  is  one  of  consider- 
able importance  in  the  budgets  of  working -class  families.  In 


CHAP,  in  IN  MINES  167 

Brown's  it  was  lost  sight  of  in  the  general  prosperity  of  the 
successful  employer's  position.  Here  it  is  only  imperfectly  seen 
owing  to  the  tender  age  of  the  wage-earning  children  (thirteen 
and  fifteen  years)  and  the  slenderness  of  their  earnings,  but 
in  some  families  it  occasionally  happens  that  for  several  years 
the  total  amount  paid  by  the  children  for  board  is  greater 
than  the  father's  wages.  This  procures  the  household  great 
material  well-being,  but  well-being  of  a  very  ephemeral  nature 
and  of  a  very  dangerous  kind.  As  the  children  settle,  it 
gradually  diminishes,  so  that  the  parents  are  at  last  obliged  to 
pinch  considerably  just  when  their  health  and  strength  are  on 
the  decline.  This  happens  especially  in  miners'  families,  where 
the  sons  early  find  well-paid  employment  in  their  father's 
trade,  while  the  girls  go  to  the  neighbouring  factories.  The 
director  of  an  important  colliery  in  Fife  told  me  that  when 
he  wished  to  acquaint  himself  with  the  position  of  a  mining 
family,  his  first  question  was,  "  How  many  of  you  are  there  to 
keep  the  house  going  ? " 

In  the  Fisher  family  there  are  three  persons  to  keep  the 
house  going,  but  the  two  lads  together  contribute  little  more 
than  a  third,  while  the  father  furnishes  single-handed  almost 
three-quarters  of  the  whole.  The  fact  deserves  special  notice, 
because  if  the  eldest  girl  had  gone  to  the  Roslin  carpet  factory 
like  so  many  Eosewell  miners'  daughters  it  would  have  appre- 
ciably augmented  the  general  resources.  However,  it  was  her 
parents  who  dissuaded  her  from  the  idea  and  found  her  her 
place  in  Mr.  Hood's  family,  and  they  declare  very  strongly 
that  their  daughters  shall  never  go  to  the  factory  if  they  can 
prevent  them.  Here  we  already  notice  how  superior  are  the 
aims  which  inspire  Fisher  and  his  wife  in  the  guidance  of  their 
family.  However,  if  they  are  deaf  to  the  more  ordinary  con- 
siderations of  immediate  material  advantage,  it  is  because  they 
know  how  to  manage  with  their  £119.  It  is  interesting, 
therefore,  to  see  how  they  set  about  it,  and  it  will  also  be  an 
excellent  opportunity  for  acquainting  ourselves  with  their 
daily  life. 

II.   Tlie  Home  of  the  Fisher  Family. 

On  arriving  at  Eosewell  from  Hawthornden  Station  the 
traveller  perceives  on  his  left  hand,  a  little  ahead  of  the  rest 


168  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

of  the  village,  a  wide  street  bordered  with  small  houses,  uniform 
but  well  kept,  and  of  recent  construction,  as  may  be  seen  from 
the  colour  of  the  bricks.  This  is  Lothian  Street,  the  last  batch 
of  workmen's  houses  built  by  Mr.  Hood.  On  both  sides  of  the 
street  the  houses  are  separated  from  the  footway  by  a  little 
garden  bordered  by  a  wall  breast  high,  and  each  front  door  is 
flanked  by  two  flower-beds.  The  tenants  are  not  allowed  to 
plant  vegetables  in  this  little  strip  of  ground,  which  is  intended 
to  give  a  smart  appearance  to  the  miners'  dwellings.  This 
end  is  attained,  for  most  of  the  men  are  very  proud  of  their 
flowers,  and  the  general  effect  of  this  long  border,  where  the 
individual  taste  of  each  tenant  produces  a  great  variety,  is,  if 
not  very  ornamental,  at  any  rate  very  gay.  It  produces  a 
kindly  feeling  for  those  who  live  behind  these  elegant  little 
patches,  and  it  suggests  what  keen  pleasure  the  miner  who 
returns  home  from  the  dark  and  dusty  mine  must  feel  in  the 
bright  colours  which  frame  the  threshold  of  his  home. 

Fisher,  who  is  one  of  the  inhabitants  of  Lothian  Street, 
bestows  great  care  on  the  cultivation  of  his  geraniums,  pansies, 
and  two  or  three  shrubs,  and  is  pleased  with  compliments  on 
their  appearance.  A  small  kitchen-garden  behind  the  house 
(about  11  yards  by  28)  furnishes  him  a  very  fair  quantity  of 
vegetables,  as  we  shall  learn  when  we  question  Mrs.  Fisher 
about  her  housekeeping.  Like  many  miners  he  is  clearly 
a  good  gardener.  The  handling  of  a  spade  is  child's  play  to 
them,  and  work  in  the  open  air  is  a  great  attraction.  I 
have  often  had  proofs  of  their  decided  taste  for  gardening  in 
England,  Scotland,  and  France.  Even  in  thickly -populated 
towns  like  Saint-Etienne,  for  instance,  many  of  them  rent  a 
small  plot  of  ground  on  the  outskirts  of  the  suburbs,  often 
at  a  considerable  distance  from  their  homes,  in  order  to  do  a 
little  gardening  in  their  leisure  hours. 

Here  Fisher  has  sufficient  space  for  this  useful  recreation 
at  his  own  door.  Further,  when  houses  are  isolated  by  gardens 
on  one  side  and  by  a  wide  street  on  the  other,  the  hygienic  con- 
ditions are  favourable  for  obtaining  fresh  air,  and  owing  to 
this  mode  of  arrangement  the  close  proximity  of  the  adjoining 
houses  presents  few  disadvantages. 

Inside,  the  arrangement  is  the  simplest  possible.  The 
front  door  is  placed  in  the  centre,  and  opens  into  a  narrow 


CHAP,  in  IN  MINES  169 

hall  leading  into  the  kitchen  on  the  right  and  another  room 
on  the  left.  Both  rooms  are  exactly  alike.  Out  of  each 
sufficient  space  has  been  taken  to  make  a  long  alcove,  holding 
two  beds  placed  end  to  end,  and  this  alcove  is  placed  in  a  line 
with  the  door  in  such  a  way  that  when  the  curtains  are  drawn 
the  room  has  a  regular  shape.  In  the  rear  of  the  house  a  small 
shed  holds  the  coal-cellar  and  wash-house,  the  indispensable 
adjuncts  of  the  kitchen.  This  is  all  There  is  no  upper  storey 
and  no  cellar,  and  the  whole  family  lives  in  two  rooms  measur- 
ing together  about  110  square  feet. 

This  is  little  enough  for  the  number  of  children.  Fisher 
and  his  wife  have  been  married  nineteen  years,  and  have  eight 
children  living.  They  have  lost  three  others,  which  makes 
eleven,  but  as  the  last  arrival  was  baptized  on  the  day  of  my 
first  visit,  there  is  no  saying  whether  there  may  not  be  more. 
The  eldest  daughter  is  at  present  in  service,  so  that  nine 
persons  have  to  sleep  there,  including  the  baby,  who  has  a 
cradle  consisting  of  a  sort  of  small  wooden  box  of  primitive 
shape.  The  remaining  eight  persons  are  stowed  away  two  by 
two  in  the  four  beds. 

The  most  surprising  thing  is  that  the  house  is  clean  and 
in  good  order,  in  spite  of  the  limited  space  and  the  number  of 
children.  It  is  true  that  I  never  called  in  in  the  morning, 
which  is  the  time  when  Fisher  sleeps  after  returning  from  his 
night's  work,  but  my  visits  were  sometimes  unexpected,  and 
never  resulted  in  any  of  those  surprises  which  are  so  trying  to 
housewives  who  are  more  jealous  of  a  good  reputation  than 
deserving  of  it. 

In  short,  this  scanty  accommodation  is  sufficient  for  the 
family,  and  presents  a  most  undoubtedly  respectable  appear- 
ance. The  house  costs  only  2s.  a  week,  including  the  kitchen- 
and  flower-gardens.  These  are  very  advantageous  terms. 

The  kitchen-garden,  indeed,  supplies  resources  which  ought 
to  be  deducted  from  the  rent.  Fisher  grows  all  the  cabbages, 
turnips,  onions,  and  leeks  which  the  family  need,  and  potatoes 
enough  for  three  months,  or  a  quarter  of  the  total  quantity. 
If  we  deducted  from  the  total  rent  the  sum  represented  by 
these  vegetables,  it  would  reduce  it  very  considerably,  and  the 
labour  expended  in  raising  them  is  rather  an  amusement  than 
a  toil. 


i?o  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

The  rent  of  a  miner's  house  in  Bosewell  hardly  ever  exceeds 
this  figure  of  2s.  a  week.  Two  only  in  Lothian  Street  are  let 
for  6d.  more,  and  these  contain  three  rooms.  On  the  other 
hand,  there  are  plenty  of  houses  in  the  village  at  Is.  6d., 
and  Fisher  told  me  that  some  miners  living  about  two  miles 
away  pay  only  8d.  a  week  for  a  little  cottage  and  garden. 

In  the  Midlands  and  throughout  England  generally  rents 
are  higher  and  the  houses  larger.  A  Staffordshire  miner  with 
a  family  as  large  as  Fisher's  would  not  be  content  to  pack 
himself  and  his  children  into  two  rooms.  Very  few  houses 
are  to  be  found  in  the  English  coal-mining  districts  let  at  less 
than  2s.  .6  d.  a  week,  and  3s.  6d.  seems  to  be  an  average  rent. 

There  are  two  causes  for  this.  The  Englishman  is  less 
simple  and  more  exacting  than  the  Scotsman.  Industrial  and 
commercial  prosperity  have  had  a  longer  time  to  penetrate, 
and  the  Englishman's  principle  is  to  live  well  and  work  well, 
and  to  aim  at  increasing  his  earnings  instead  of  at  diminishing 
his  expenses.  The  Scotsman  is  now  tending  more  and  more 
towards  this  conception,  but  it  is  less  deeply  rooted  in  his 
case,  in  the  first  place,  because  the  industrial  development  is 
less  marked  in  his  country,  and  in  the  second,  because  of  his 
social  origin.  The  population  of  the  Lothians,  the  wealthy 
part  of  Scotland,  receives  a  constant  influx  from  the  poor  coun- 
ties adjoining,  the  Highlands  and  the  Hebrides.  Emigrants 
from  these  districts  bring  with  them  the  patriarchal  habits 
they  have  adopted,  and  without  which  it  would  be  impossible 
to  live  there.  In  a  mountainous  district  where  cultiva- 
tion must  necessarily  remain  rudimentary  and  industry  does 
not  arise,  and  where  the  chief  resources  are  derived  from 
scanty  pasturage  and  from  fishing  on  a  good  but  dangerous 
coast,  there  is  a  very  clear  realisation  of  the  inflexible  limits 
which  Nature  has  set  to  production.  Human  effort  encounters 
insurmountable  obstacles,  and  wisdom  therefore  consists  in 
limiting  wants  to  what  circumstances  demand,  since  it  would 
be  sheer  imprudence  to  trust  in  laborious  energy  whose  results 
might  be  lost  through  the  inability  of  the  soil  to  repay  them. 
Where,  however,  the  intense  industrial  regime  opens  an  un- 
limited field  to  the  action  of  labour,  wisdom  consists  in 
developing  in  a  man  the  greatest  possible  efficiency.  The  right 
course  is  to  put  oneself  in  good  form,  and  to  spare  nothing  to 


CHAP,  in  IN  MINES  171 

increase  one's  power  of  work.  Experience  has  shown  that  this 
course  pays  best,  and  consequently  there  is  a  general  tendency 
among  the  workers  to  have  better  food,  better  houses,  better 
clothing,  better  instruction,  and  to  conduct  themselves  better 
morally — all  conditions  which  contribute,  though  in  unequal 
degrees,  to  the  most  complete  development  of  the  human 
being. 

Secondly,  rents  are  a  little  dearer  in  England  than  in 
Scotland,  and  in  the  Midlands  than  in  the  Lothians,  a  circum- 
stance due  to  the  greater  intensity  of  the  industrial  movement, 
which  agglomerates  the  population  and  raises  the  price  of  land. 

As  a  set-off,  however,  there  is  an  advantage  to  which  I 
have  already  had  occasion  to  call  attention,  the  possibility  of  a 
working  man  being  able  to  live  in  his  own  house.  There  is 
no  Building  Society  at  Eosewell,  nor  could  there  be  one,  since 
White  Hill  Colliery  is  the  only  source  of  work  within  reach 
of  the  inhabitants.  No  one  binds  himself  to  live  in  a  village 
where  he  is  at  the  mercy  of  a  single  employer.  In  the  Black 
Country,  on  the  contrary,  the  close  proximity  of  different 
collieries  permits  a  family  to  acquire  a  house  and  live  in  it 
while  still  leaving  them  free  to  change  employers.  Conse- 
quently in  many  mining  centres  we  find  men  owning  their 
own  houses,  and  the  number  is  continually  increased  through 
the  facilities  offered  by  Building  Societies. 

The  little  village  of  Eoslin,  two  and  a  half  miles  from 
Rosewell,  in  the  picturesque  glen  in  which  stand  Hawthorn- 
den  Castle  and  the  ruins  of  Eosslyn  Castle,  possesses  two 
factories,  a  paper  factory  and  a  carpet  factory.  There  is  not 
much  choice  for  workers,  but  the  agglomeration  of  population 
is  a  little  greater,  and  the  local  trade  is  a  little  more  im- 
portant ;  in  a  word,  the  village  does  not,  like  Rosewell,  depend 
entirely  on  a  single  enterprise.  Here  we  already  find  working 
men  who  own  their  houses,  but  the  phenomenon  is  embryonic, 
and  there  is  no  Building  Society  to  make  it  evident  and 
facilitate  its  growth.  Those  who  have  become  the  owners  of 
their  houses  are  those  who  have  been  capable  of  saving  the 
necessary  sum  in  advance,  who  possess  a  real  aptitude  for 
becoming  capitalists  and  are  emerging  from  the  condition  of 
factory  workers.  My  attention  was  particularly  drawn  to  a 
mason,  a  baker,  and  a  butcher  in  Roslin,  who,  not  content  with 


172  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

living  in  houses  of  their  own,  have  bought  others  as  an  invest- 
ment and  let  them. 

Fisher,  with  whom  I  discussed  this  matter  one  day,  objected 
that  the  Eosewell  miners  could  never  in  any  case  become  the 
owners  of  their  dwellings  because  there  was  no  land  to  feu 
round  the  village.  I  quite  believe  that  if  Fisher  were  to  go  to 
the  factor  of  the  laird  of  White  Hill  and  were  to  propose  to 
feu  300  square  yards,  equivalent  to  the  square  area  of  his 
present  premises,  the  factor  would  not  listen  to  him.  But 
why  not  ?  Merely  because  if  he  were  dismissed  by  Mr.  Hood 
he  would  no  longer  be  able  to  keep  up  his  payments,  while  it 
would  be  difficult  to  sell  the  house  because  no  one  at  present 
buys  houses.  But  suppose,  on  the  other  hand,  that  one  or 
many  new  industries  sprang  up,  and  that  Eosewell  became 
a  town,  and  we  should  see  whether  there  was  no  more  land 
to  feu ! 

It  is,  in  fact,  due  to  the  complete  dependence  on  White 
Hill  Colliery  that  Eosewell  cannot  have  any  working-class 
house-owners.  As  this  cannot  be,  it  is  a  very  fortunate  thing 
that  the  Lothian  Coal  Company  concerns  itself  as  it  does  with 
the  welfare  of  the  miners,  and  builds  them  decent  houses  at  a 
low  rent. 

I  have  said  that  the  houses  are  not  crowded  too  closely 
together.  The  air  circulates  freely  both  at  the  back  and  front, 
and  penetrates  by  two  large  windows.  The  floor  is  raised 
about  8  inches  above  the  level  of  the  soil  as  a  preventive 
against  damp.  The  slate  roof  preserves  the  ceiling  from  wet, 
and  the  brick  walls  are  carefully  jointed.  The  houses  are,  to 
borrow  a  common  phrase,  solidly  built. 

A  hydrant  in  the  street  puts  an  abundant  supply  of  water 
at  the  disposition  of  every  tenent.  Near  the  door  leading 
from  the  kitchen  into  the  garden  I  saw  a  large  butt,  in  which 
Mrs.  Fisher  carefully  collects  rain-water  from  the  roof,  but 
only,  as  she  explained  to  me,  to  have  soft  water  for  washing. 
The  water  supply  is  abundant  in  quantity  and  good  in  quality. 

This  is  an  index  to  Mrs.  Fisher's  housewifely  ability.  It 
is  easy  to  discover  how  much  she  possesses  merely  by  looking 
at  her  simple  well  -  kept  furniture.  In  the  kitchen  is  a 
wooden  dresser  set  out  with  a  little  not  very  ornamental  china, 
a  table,  four  chairs,  a  wicker  arm-chair,  and  great  square 


CHAP,  in  IN  MINES  173 

wooden  chest  of  the  kind  in  which  working  folk  usually  keep 
their  clothes  in  this  country,  two  beds  made  up  in  the  alcove, 
and  the  baby's  cradle.  A  splendid  sewing-machine  occupies 
the  place  of  honour  in  front  of  the  window.  This  is  a  recent 
acquisition,  for  which  Mrs.  Fisher  paid  £8  and  gave  her  old 
machine  into  the  bargain.  It  is  by  far  the  most  costly  piece  of 
furniture  in  the  place,  but  it  is  also  an  active  tool  in  the  hands 
of  the  mistress  of  the  house.  "  I  make  all  the  house-linen," 
she  said,  "  and  all  the  under-linen  for  the  family,"  and  her 
husband  added  in  response  to  the  astonishment  I  manifested, 
"  Scotswomen  have  plenty  to  do."  Of  this  there  is  no  doubt, 
and  in  this  they  present  a  marked  contrast  to  Englishwomen, 
who  all  rush  to  ready-made  articles,  which,  though  perhaps 
not  much  dearer,  are  certainly  less  serviceable.  This  is 
another  point  in  which,  as  just  pointed  out,  the  difference 
between  the  two  countries  and  their  origin  comes  out. 

The  other  room,  to  the  left  on  entering,  is  a  little  more 
luxuriously  furnished.  Besides  the  two  beds  in  the  alcove  and 
the  clothing-chest  beside  them,  it  contains  six  chairs  and  an 
arm-chair  covered  in  horsehair.  The  alcove  is  shut  off  by 
cotton  curtains,  and  there  is  a  chest  of  drawers  on  the  top  of 
which  stands  a  glass  with  shelves,  and  a  round  table  holding 
an  enormous  Bible  with  metal  clasps,  which  cost  £2  :  4s. — a  real 
Family  Bible,  as  may  be  seen  from  its  size,  the  splendour  of  its 
binding  (in  the  worst  possible  taste),  and  its  large  print. 
Fisher  and  his  wife  bought  it  before  going  to  America.  In 
spite  of  the  laudable  feeling  manifested  by  such  a  great 
outlay  for  a  religious  object,  I  ought  to  state  that  this  Bible 
seems  to  be  very  little  read.  The  white  pages  with  fancy 
borders  for  recording  the  children's  names  make  no  mention 
of  any  birth,  in  spite  of  the  manifold  opportunities  Fisher  has 
had  for  filling  them,  while  the  extreme  cleanliness  of  the  pages 
completed  my  conviction  that  the  metal  clasps  are  not  often 
opened.  A  miner's  fingers,  however  clean,  do  not  turn  over  a 
book  for  several  years  without  leaving  some  trace. 

In  a  description  of  a  miner's  furniture,  the  short  curtain 
covering  the  lower  half  of  windows  looking  on  to  the  street 
must  not  be  forgotten.  It  is  de  rigueur  in  all  the  Eosewell 
houses,  even  the  poorest,  and  the  most  astonishing  thing  is, 
that  among  all  the  coal  dust  which  forms  the  basis  of  the 


174  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

respirable  air  in  Rosewell,  this  little  white  curtain  is  always 
clean.  It  is  certainly  one  of  those  details  which  prejudice  the 
passing  stranger  in  favour  of  the  cleanliness  of  the  interiors, 
but  it  is  also  often  merely  a  deceitful  advertisement  of  pre- 
tensions to  housewifely  care  which  are  not  justified  by  anything 
inside.  The  little  curtain  is  generally  the  product  of  domestic 
industry,  and  is  adorned  with  various  designs,  some  fanciful, 
some  pious,  and  some  showing  a  poor  enough  power  of 
invention.  Sometimes  it  is  a  cat,  gravely  sitting  on  its  hind 
quarters,  sometimes  a  moral  maxim  worked  in  cross-stitch, 
sometimes  a  simple  arrangement  of  lines.  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  the  girls'  schools  pay  great  attention  to  this  inferior 
form  of  art,  and  that  good  pupils  bring  home  superb  pieces  of 
work  to  their  admiring  parents.  After  all,  these  imperfect  or 
grotesque  efforts  at  ornament  give  a  little  girl  a  love  for  home, 
and  thus  contribute,  if  not  to  the  aesthetic  development  of  the 
rising  generation,  at  least  to  their  moral  development.  Nothing 
is  indifferent  which  leads  a  woman  to  render  her  fireside  more 
attractive,  and  which  makes  her  love  it. 

The  furniture  of  the  Fisher  family,  with  the  addition  of  the 
scanty  stock  of  house-linen,  certainly  did  not  cost  more  than 
£60  when  new,  and  the  sewing-machine  represents  £8  of  this 
amount.  An  English  family  in  the  same  position  would 
probably  have  a  far  more  expensive  and  comprehensive  house- 
ful of  furniture,  as  it  would  occupy  a  larger  house  at  a  higher 
rent. 

A  similar  difference  may  be  seen  in  the  living.  A  Lanca- 
shire working  man  would  hardly  reconcile  himself  to  Scottish 
cheer,  and  would  think  the  bill  of  fare  a  rather  meagre  one. 
It  is  not  that  English  cookery  is  less  simple,  but  that  it  is 
more  substantial,  and  almost  invariably  consists  of  meat, 
boiled  vegetables,  and  pudding  on  high  days,  the  whole  being 
washed  down  with  tea.  In  Scotland,  on  the  other  hand,  and 
especially  as  we  go  towards  the  Highlands,  the  consumption  of 
meat  is  much  less.  The  recipes,  however,  become  complicated 
by  traditional  methods  which  are  extremely  perplexing  to  the 
profane  outsider. 

This  is  especially  the  case  with  oatmeal  porridge,  which 
constitutes  the  national  dish,  par  excellence.  No  true  Scot 
would  start  out  in  the  morning  without  having  partaken  of 


CHAP,  in  IN  MINES  175 

porridge,  and  every  day  Mrs.  Fisher,  who  is  a  true  Scot,  makes 
it  for  the  whole  household.  But  not  all  the  Eosewell  house- 
wives are  equally  faithful  to  the  time-honoured  custom ;  they 
find  that  porridge  takes  too  long  to  make,  and  they  substitute 
tea  and  bread  and  butter.  This  substitute  is  far  from  good. 
Porridge  with  fresh  milk,  as  it  is  generally  eaten,  is  a  diet 
at  once  light  and  nourishing,  and  for  children  it  is  especially 
wholesome,  nor  is  it  all  exaggeration  when  the  Scots  attribute 
to  it  merits  without  number.  There  is  nothing  to  prevent  tea 
and  bread  and  butter  being  eaten  after  the  porridge,  and  this 
is  what  the  Fishers  do,  at  any  rate  the  parents  and  the  grown- 
up children.  Mrs.  Fisher  explained  to  me  that  porridge  should 
be  boiled  for  three-quarters  of  an  hour  every  morning,  and 
that  many  housewives  were  too  lazy,  or  too  delicate,  or  too 
negligent,  and  shrank  from  the  necessity  for  rising  betimes,  or 
from  the  bother  of  such  a  lengthy  preparation.  After  such 
information  from  a  competent  housewife,  I  thought  I  had 
penetrated  the  secret  of  porridge.  I  even  saw  a  rapid  and 
easy  method  of  classifying  Scottish  housewives,  and  I  loaded 
with  scathing  epithets  those  whose  want  of  energy  prevented 
them  from  springing  out  of  bed  in  a  morning  in  time  to  make 
porridge,  until  one  fine  day  the  whole  vanity  of  my  method  of 
classification  was  revealed  to  me !  I  found  myself  with  a 
family  of  very  stanch  Highlanders,  and  conversation  having 
turned  on  porridge  and  its  virtues  as  an  article  of  diet,  I 
thought  to  distinguish  myself  by  showering  blame  on  those 
women  who  forsook  the  old  national  custom  in  order  to 
prolong  their  morning  sleep.  Instead  of  the  unanimous 
approbation  for  which  I  had  hoped,  the  ladies  looked  at  each 
other  with  a  smile,  and  one  of  them  asked  me  how  long  I 
supposed  it  took  to  make  porridge.  "Three-quarters  of  an 
hour,"  I  replied,  "and  my  authority  is  an  excellent  house- 
keeper." "  Three-quarters  of  an  hour !  Who  can  have  told 
you  that  ? "  "A  miner's  wife  in  Midlothian."  " Ah,  I  might 
have  known.  Yes,  that  is  the  fashion  in  the  Lothians,  but  it 
is  detestable,  and  you  can  have  no  idea  of  what  porridge  is 
if  you  tried  it  there.  Come  to  breakfast  to-morrow  at  nine 
o'clock  and  you  shall  have  some  real  porridge  made  in  the 
Highland  way.  Ten  minutes  will  cook  it,  but  the  meal  must 
be  properly  ground.  That  is  the  whole  secret."  And  a 


176  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

Highland  archaeologist  showed  me  a  small  stone  mortar  in 
which  oats  used  formerly  to  be  ground  for  meal,  and  according 
to  him  it  is  by  returning  to  that  primitive  practice,  and  only 
thus,  that  genuine  porridge  can  be  obtained.  These  ladies  do 
not  agree  with  him,  so  that  I  shall  not  attempt  to  pronounce 
upon  this  local  and  obscure  controversy.  However,  I  have 
eaten  porridge  in  the  inns  of  the  Far  West  of  America,  where 
tradition  does  not  count  for  much,  and  I  have  eaten  what  was 
carefully  prepared  for  my  benefit  according  to  all  the  lore  of 
the  Highlands,  but  I  saw  no  great  difference.  The  only  thing 
of  which  I  am  perfectly  certain  now  is  that  the  cooking  of 
porridge  is  not  to  be  lightly  spoken  of  in  Scotland.  It  is  part 
of  the  special  rites  of  each  clan. 

The  Fishers  dine  about  one  o'clock,  and  dinner  is  the 
principal  meal.  It  consists  of  broth,  meat,  and  vegetables, 
generally  potatoes.  Tea  is  taken  at  six  o'clock,  with  bread  and 
some  little  relish,  eggs,  herrings,  or  Dundee  marmalade.  Meat 
does  not  usually  appear  more  than  once  a  day,  and  is  some- 
times replaced  by  fish,  which  is  easily  obtained  owing  to  the 
proximity  of  the  small  fishing-ports  of  the  Forth.  When  I 
described  to  the  Fishers  the  daily  fare  of  the  English  working 
men  whom  I  had  studied,  they  cried  out  upon  their  gluttony. 
"  We  all  know,"  they  said,  "  that  the  English  spend  more  than 
we  do,  and  especially  upon  food." 

This  difference  exists  even  in  the  class  above  the  working 
class,  in  grades  of  society  where  the  habits  of  different  countries 
are  generally  much  the  same.  So  far  as  I  was  able  to  ascer- 
tain, it  is  a  moderately  general  custom  among  the  middle 
classes  of  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow  to  eat  meat  only  once  a  day. 
Breakfast  is  taken  about  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and 
consists  of  eggs  or  fish ;  a  light  lunch  at  one  o'clock  consists  of 
a  plate  of  soup,  some  fruit,  and  occasionally  a  cup  of  cocoa ;  a 
cup  of  tea  is  taken  at  four  or  five  o'clock,  and  dinner  in  the 
evening.  It  is  only  at  dinner  that  meat  appears,  while  in 
England,  on  the  contrary,  the  middle  and  working  classes  have 
it  on  the  table  thrice  a  day. 

A  characteristic  common  both  to  respectable  English  and 
Scots  is  the  custom  of  drinking  nothing  but  water  at  those 
meals  at  which  tea  is  not  served.  Fisher  and  his  family  are 
true  to  this  sober  custom,  and  although  drunkenness  is  very 


CHAP,  in  IN  MINES  177 

prevalent  in  Eosewell,  the  majority  of  those  who  get  drunk 
follow  the  same  practice.  It  is  between  meals,  and  with  the 
deliberate  intention  of  carousing,  that  they  empty  great  jugs 
of  strong  beer,  or  ruin  their  stomachs  with  whiskey.  Mr.  Hood 
admits  that  he  has  not  checked  the  evil  by  resisting  the  open- 
ing of  a  public-house  in  Eosewell.  On  holidays,  and  especially 
at  the  New  Year,  there  are  drinking-parties  in  private  houses, 
in  which  the  women  also  take  part.  Miss  Thomson  told  me 
that  one  New  Year's  Day,  on  entering  the  house  of  an  Irishman 
in  Eosewell,  she  found  four  women,  two  of  them  quite  young, 
sitting  round  a  table  with  a  bottle  of  whiskey  completely 
emptied.  The  eldest,  who  was  most  overcome,  could  neither 
stand  nor  speak,  while  the  other  three  were  either  unable  to 
speak  or  unable  to  move. 

Fisher  has  the  reputation  of  not  giving  way  to  these 
excesses ;  he  is  a  sober  man,  but  does  not  belong  to  any  tem- 
perance society.  I  do  not  think  that  Eosewell  would  be  a 
very  favourable  field  for  such  a  society,  at  any  rate  at  present. 
In  more  populous  centres,  which  are  more  advanced  in  every 
way,  teetotallers  are  drawn  chiefly  from  among  persons  desirous 
of  improving  the  moral  conditions  of  the  working  class.  I 
have  rarely  met,  either  in  the  United  Kingdom  or  in  America, 
any  Anglo-Saxon  devoted  to  this  mission  who  was  not  at  the 
same  time  a  zealous  apostle  of  total  abstinence.  This  is  easy 
to  understand  in  a  race  which  does  not  know  how  to  use 
alcohol  aright,  which  drinks  water  at  its  meals  and  gets  drunk 
afterwards!  At  Eosewell  the  300  miners  who  form  the 
population  have  not,  even  when  sober,  any  well-marked 
general  interest  in  the  public  weal,  and  the  group  is  too  small 
to  make  it  easy  for  a  man  capable  of  awakening  this  interest 
to  arise. 

All  the  provisions  bought  by  the  Fishers  come  from  the 
Co-operative  Store  in  the  village,  where  bread,  butcher's  meat, 
and  groceries  can  all  be  obtained.  Fisher  and  his  wife  bestow 
unbounded  praise  on  the  Store,  where,  according  to  them,  the 
quality  is  good  and  the  price  very  moderate.  On  the  other 

hand,  Mrs.  B ,  a  lady  living  in  the  neighbourhood,  who  would 

have  been  willing  to  deal  there,  told  me  that  one  got  a  better 
article  elsewhere  for  the  same  price,  and  that  the  principal  aim 
of  the  Co-operative  Society  was  to  get  a  large  bonus  for  its 

N 


i;8  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

members.  The  most  curious  thing  is  that  both  sides  are  right 
from  their  own  point  of  view,  and  this  difference  of  opinion 
will  enable  us  to  determine  with  sufficient  exactness  the  kind 
of  service  rendered  by  a  well-conducted  Co-operative  Society  in 
a  village  like  Eosewell. 

Working-class  households  are  obliged  to  live  from  day  to 
day ;  they  cannot  lay  in  stores,  and  are  dependent  on  the  local 
retail  dealer.  In  large  towns  the  very  considerable  extension 
of  the  clientele  stimulates  competition,  and  allows  traders  to 
realise  a  good  profit  by  means  of  a  very  trifling  one  on  each 
sale,  so  that  retail  trade  in  towns  can  be  organised,  and  tends 
to  be  organised,  on  lines  favourable  to  the  interest  of  each  and 
every  consumer. 

In  a  village  the  clientele  is  necessarily  very  limited,  and 
the  total  figure  of  the  sales  very  small,  and  it  is  consequently 
impossible  for  the  trader  whose  field  is  so  narrow  to  be  content 
with  a  very  trifling  profit  on  each.  Further,  there  is  little 
competition,  which  permits  him  to  fix  his  price  arbitrarily ;  and 
thirdly,  he  is  obliged  to  give  credit  to  some  of  his  customers, 
which  compels  him  to  make  his  prices  higher.  Thus  it 
happens  that  in  order  to  compensate  himself  for  the  disadvan- 
tages of  the  situation  he  imposes  them  upon  the  customers 
who  deal  with  him. 

This,  then,  is  why  a  Co-operative  Society  which  means 
business  is  started  where  the  retail  dealer  formerly  exploited 
the  consumer.  Its  principle  is  never  to  give  credit.  Thus  it 
gets  rid  of  bad  debts,  and  relieves  customers  who  pay  ready 
money  from  the  higher  prices  which  they  were  otherwise 
obliged  to  pay  in  order  to  compensate  for  the  system  of  credit. 
Secondly,  it  is  able  to  buy  at  a  cheaper  rate,  and  can  sell  at  a 
lower  rate,  than  the  small  retail  dealer. 

Further,  as  the  Society  divides  the  net  profits  of  the 
enterprise  amongst  its  customers — and  this  is  in  fact  the 
essential  principle  of  co-operation — it  is  clear  that  a  Co-opera- 
tive Store  should,  if  wisely  managed,  secure  great  advantages 
to  working-class  families  accustomed  to  pay  their  way  as 
they  go. 

This  is  what  strikes  Fisher.     Mrs.  B ,  however,  is  not  in 

the  same  position.     She  is  not  dependent  on  the  local  supply : 
she  can  make  her  purchases,  as  she  actually  does,  in  one  of  the 


CHAP,  in  IN  MINES  179 

large  shops  in  town,  which  forward  by  rail  large  quantities  of 
goods,  for  which  she  pays  by  a  cheque  on  her  banker.  Thus 
she  escapes  exploitation  by  the  village  grocer,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  she  can  afford  to  lay  in  a  store  beforehand,  and  can 
consequently  buy  in  large  quantities,  that  she  has  a  banking 
account,  and  that  she  has  frequently  occasion  to  go  to  Edin- 
burgh. Thus  she  belongs  to  the  town  clientele,  a  thing  which 
is  obviously  impossible  for  Fisher.  When  she  asserts  that  the 
articles  supplied  by  the  Co-operative  Store  are  bad  and  dear,  she 
is  comparing  them  with  those  supplied  by  the  large  shops  of 
Edinburgh  and  Glasgow.  When  Mrs.  Fisher  says  they  are 
good  and  cheap,  she  is  comparing  them  with  those  supplied  by 
the  small  village  shop.  This  is  why  I  said  just  now  that 
both  are  right  from  their  own  point  of  view. 

It  might  be  supposed  from  this  example  that  only  the 
working  classes  and  small  villages  have  derived  benefit  from 
Co-operative  Societies.  I  am  far  from  drawing  this  conclusion. 
Societies  for  co-operative  distribution — the  only  ones  under 
discussion — have  cut  short  the  excessive  and  varied  exploitation 
of  the  consumer  by  the  trader.  Thanks  to  them,  trade  has 
learned  a  lesson.  Wherever  they  are  carried  on  intelligently, 
and  honestly,  they  have  achieved  enormous  success,  and  have 
helped  to  remedy  this  form  of  oppression.  To  me  they  seem 
one  of  the  most  interesting  manifestations  of  the  remarkable 
aptitude  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  for  effectually  opposing  every 
form  of  tyranny,  whether  private  or  public. 

At  Kosewell  we  see  a  particular  case  of  a  Co-operative 
Society,  and  we  have  to  find  the  meaning  of  this  particular  case, 
and  not  to  write  the  history  of  the  co-operative  movement. 
We  shall  elsewhere  meet  other  particular  cases  which  will 
enlighten  us  on  other  points. 

Let  us  for  the  moment  leave  Fisher  to  speak.  He  con- 
gratulates himself  on  the  saving  effected  in  his  expenses  by  the 
Co-operative  Store,  and  appreciates  at  its  proper  value  the 
advantage  of  paying  only  ^d.  for  a  4-lb.  loaf — "  a  halfpenny 
less  than  anywhere  else,"  he  declares — and  of  getting  good 
boiling  beef  for  8d.  a  lb.,  beefsteak  at  Is.  3d.  a  lb.,  tea  at  2s. 
6d.  a  lb.,  etc. ;  nor  is  it  only  for  this  reason  that  he  is  glad  to 
belong  to  the  Co-operative  Society. 

"  Every  three  months,"  he  said,  "  the  profits  are  divided  in 


i8o  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

proportion  to  each  member's  purchases.  Last  time  we  received 
back  4s.  in  the  £1,  or  20  per  cent."  I  expressed  some  surprise 
at  the  rate  of  this  bonus,  which  seemed  to  me  to  justify  Mrs. 

B 's  criticism ;    but  Fisher   continued,  "  You  see,    many 

working  men  would  never  have  anything  for  clothes  every 
quarter  if  it  were  not  for  this  money  coming  in  just  in  the 
nick  of  time.  Most  of  the  members  count  on  it,  and  always 
provide  themselves  then  with  clothes  and  linen  and  boots, 
which  can  all  be  got  at  the  Co-operative  Store."  Thus  the 
Society  plays  a  part  similar  to  that  of  the  money-box  in 
which  children  save  up  pennies  for  any  extraordinary  outlay. 
It  supplies  the  machinery  for  thrift  and  foresight. 

But  that  is  not  all.  The  Society  needs  working  capital, 
and  borrows  money.  This  is  an  excellent  investment  for  a 
workman's  savings,  and  although  I  was  not  able  to  get  any 
very  exact  information  on  the  point,  I  strongly  suspect  that 
Fisher  has  invested  a  little  money  in  this  way. 

But  the  Society  does  not  restrict  itself  to  facilitating  thrift 
and  leaving  a  man  to  sit  down  and  fold  his  hands.  It  does  some- 
thing better  than  this,  by  teaching  the  working  men  who  compose 
it  to  manage  their  own  interests  and  to  turn  their  money  to 
good  account.  It  tends  to  transform  them,  not  into  stock- 
holders, but  into  business  men.  Let  us  hear  Fisher  further. 

"  At  every  quarterly  meeting,"  he  said,"  we,  pay  the  employes, 
the  rent  of  the  premises,  and  all  the  working  expenses,  on  the 
proposal  of  the  manager,  and  according  to  his  accounts.  Of 
course  it  is  all  in  his  hands,  but  we  can  discharge  him  if  we 
are  not  satisfied." 

When  we  hear  a  man  express  so  clearly  and  coolly  his 
satisfaction  with  the  control  he  exercises,  it  is  not  difficult  to 
conceive  that  it  is  real  and  efficient.  Note  that  we  are  con- 
cerned with  a  control  exercised  by  workmen  in  matters  which 
touch  them  very  closely  and  with  which  they  are  well  acquainted. 
The  manager  and  the  employe's  belong  to  their  village,  they 
meet  them  every  day,  they  watch  their  conduct,  and  would  be 
quick  to  perceive  any  abuse  contrary  to  their  own  interests. 
Further,  they  are  kept  informed  as  to  the  business  operations 
effected  and  the  combinations  adopted.  Thus  it  is  a  valuable 
school,  a  school  for  practical  life,  as  an  American  publicist 
justly  said  in  speaking  of  Building  Societies.  It  is  also  a 


CHAP,  in  IN  MINES  181 

school  of  true  and  healthy  democracy,  in  which  a  working  man 
can  serve  his  apprenticeship  to  those  political  rights  which  so 
many  electors  are  incapable  of  using  in  a  reasonable  manner. 
Through  the  existence  of  the  numerous  autonomous  co-oper- 
ative societies,  trade  unions,  temperance  societies,  friendly 
societies,  etc.,  Great  Britain  is  training  up  generations  of  capable 
citizens,  and  thus  is  putting  herself  in  a  position  to  meet  the 
political  changes  in  store  without  violent  revolution. 

Fisher's  Scottish  sobriety  naturally  diminishes  the  import- 
ance of  food  as  an  item  in  his  budget.  If  we  compare  his 
food  bills  in  detail  with  those  of  the  Brown  family,  we  remark 
a  considerable  difference  in  the  consumption  of  meat.  Cereals, 
on  the  other  hand,  occur  in  a  much  larger  proportion,  either  in 
the  form  of  bread  or  of  oatmeal.  Fisher  told  us  that  he  ate 
more  than  1  Ib.  a  day  to  his  own  share,  and  the  family  (father, 
mother,  and  six  children,  not  counting  the  baby)  require  about 
a  loaf  and  a  half  a  day.  This  gives  an  average  consumption  of 
1 2  oz.  per  head,  counting  as  adults  three  children  aged  respect- 
ively five,  three,  and  two  years,  whose  consumption  would 
naturally  be  less.  In  the  Brown  family  we  had  rather  over 
9  oz.,  reckoning  in  two  children,  of  whom  the  younger  was 
eight  years  old. 

The  difference  of  consumption  does  not  exactly  measure 
the  difference  of  expense  in  the  two  cases,  because  prices  differ. 
Birmingham  is  a  large  town,  admirably  provisioned,  and  meat 
costs  less  at  an  ordinary  butcher's  than  at  the  Eosewell  Co- 
operative Store,  6d.  instead  of  8d.  for  boiling  beef,  and  9d. 
instead  of  Is.  2d.  for  roasting  joints.  This  confirms  what  we 
said  above  on  the  advantages  of  the  large  town.  We  ought 
also  to  mention  the  facilities  in  Birmingham  for  buying 
American  or  Australian  frozen  meat  at  a  low  price.  Mrs. 
Brown,  however,  did  not  use  it,  and  her  means  allowed  of  this 
luxury,  but  a  less  well-to-do  family  would  thus  be  able  to 
obtain  a  wholesome  and  nourishing  diet  for  a  very  small  sum. 
At  Rosewell  and,  generally  speaking,  in  most  villages  this 
meat  cannot  be  obtained  owing  to  the  lack  of  freezing  chambers, 
which  it  would  not  pay  to  construct  for  a  small  clientele.  On 
the  other  hand,  bread  from  the  Co-operative  Bakery  costs  less 
than  that  which  an  ordinary  baker  supplies  to  the  Browns 
(about  |-d.  a  Ib.),  and  we  have  explained  the  reason. 


182  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

I  shall  not  enter  in  further  detail  into  the  calculations 
which  I  used  for  estimating  the  annual  outlay  on  food  for 
the  Fisher  family.  From  what  I  know,  it  must  reach  the 
amount  of  £66  :  8s.,  thus  absorbing  more  than  half  of  the  total 
resources.  From  this  sum  must  be  deducted  £2:8:9,  re- 
presenting the  value  of  the  vegetables  grown  in  the  kitchen- 
garden,  which  brings  the  actual  cash  expenditure  to  £64. 

The  item  of  clothing  is  not  heavy.  There  are  no  tall 
young  girls  to  bring  their  earnings  to  the  common  purse,  and 
show  themselves  very  exacting  with  regard  to  their  toilets. 
Nor  does  Mrs.  Fisher  seem  to  lean  towards  overdressing,  a  fault 
which  is  rather  common  in  Scotland.  Further,  the  famous 
sewing-machine,  the  cost  of  which  should  be  spread  over  the 
ten  years  it  will  probably  last,  enables  her  to  make  the  under- 
linen  of  the  family  as  well  as  some  of  the  children's  dresses. 
As  for  Fisher,  he  is  well  supplied.  Besides  his  working  dress, 
he  has  an  entire  new  suit,  another  not  so  fresh,  and  a  winter 
overcoat.  We  have  seen  from  the  figures  given  for  Brown 
how  cheap  all  this  is  in  Great  Britain.  I  should  put  down  the 
total  annual  expenditure  on  clothing  for  the  family  at  £14. 

Twelve  tons  of  coal  are  burned  in  a  year,  four  for  warming 
and  eight  for  the  kitchen  fire,  which  also  serves  for  washing  and 
ironing.  At  an  average  price  of  7s.  a  ton,  this  costs  £4  :  4s. 

To  finish  with  household  expenses,  we  must  add  £4  for 
upkeep  of  furniture  and  household  linen,  £2  for  lighting,  and 
then  we  have  only  to  examine  the  minor  items  in  the  family 
budget. 

Medical  attendance,  for  instance,  is  represented  by  a  sub- 
scription of  3d.  a  week,  including  the  doctor's  visits  and 
medicine.  Education,  with  school  requirements,  entails  an 
expense  of  2s.  a  year  for  the  two  youngest  school-children  and 
5s.  for  one  who  can  write,  in  all,  7s.  Then  there  are  further  the 
boys'  football  subscriptions ;  the  modest  fishing  tackle  which 
Fisher  uses — without  any  great  result,  he  says — in  the  neigh- 
bouring burns ;  the  Evening  News,  which  he  buys  daily,  and 
the  Weekly  News,  which  he  reads  every  week.  The  total  cost 
of  these  amusements  is  an  annual  charge  on  the  budget  of 
£2  :  8s.  The  subscription  of  Id.  a  week  to  the  Lothian  Miners' 
Union  represents  an  annual  expenditure  of  4s.  4d. 

Finally,  we  ought  to  mention  the  weekly  premium  paid  to 


CHAP.   Ill 


IN  MINES 


the  British  Legal  Life  and  Loan  Company.  For  each  of  the 
seven  children  living  at  home  and  for  his  wife  Fisher  pays  Id. 
a  week,  and  2d.  for  himself,  or  £2  :  3  : 4  a  year ;  and  for  this 
the  Company  will  pay  his  family  £5  at  his  death,  and  each 
child  is  insured  for  £10  if  he  dies  after  eleven  years  of  age. 
Fisher  would  have  been  entitled  to  £10  if  he  had  not  dropped 
his  payments  while  he  was  in  America.  On  his  return  he 
was  obliged  to  take  out  a  new  policy  on  less  favourable  terms. 
If  we  recapitulate  the  receipts  and  payments  enumerated 
above,  we  shall  be  able  to  make  up  the  budget  of  the  family 
thus  : — 

1Cr. 

Fisher's  Wages 
Two  Sons'  Wages 


Dr. 

.      £84     0     0 

Rent  of  House   and 

35     0     0 

Garden 

£5 

4     0 

Upkeep  of  Furniture 

and  Linen    . 

4 

0     0 

Warming 

4 

4      0 

Lighting 

2 

0     0 

Food       .          .  •  -     . 

64 

0     0 

Clothing. 

14 

0     0 

Medical  Attendance  . 

0 

13      0 

Amusements    . 

2 

8     0 

Subscription  to  Union 

0 

4     4 

Educational  Require- 

ments . 

0 

7      0 

Insurance         . 

2 

3     4 

Voluntary  Contribu- 

tion to  Edinburgh 

Infirmary    . 

0 

1     0 

Balance  unaccounted 

for 

19 

15      4 

.    £119     0     0 

Total 

£119 

0     0 

Total 


At  first  sight  one  might  be  led  to  suppose  that  Fisher 
must  have  accumulated  relatively  considerable  savings,  but  it 
should  be  noted  that  the  present  situation  is  quite  recent.  Two 
years  ago  none  of  the  children  were  earning  anything,  which 
reduced  the  total  income  to  £84,  and  further,  the  eldest 
daughter,  now  in  Mr.  Hood's  service,  was  kept  by  her  father. 
Again,  in  the  early  years  of  his  marriage,  when  Fisher  had 
fewer  children,  and  when,  consequently,  his  expenses  were  less, 

1  Not  including  the  products  of  the  garden  nor  the  bonus  from  the  Co- 
operative Store. 


184  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

he  was  not  a  stone- worker,  and  earned  much  lower  wages.  He 
has  now  reached  that  short  period  of  prosperity  experienced 
by  large  and  industrious  working  -  class  families  when  the 
eldest  children  contribute  to  the  general  expenses.  Further, 
his  furniture  represents  a  part  of  his  savings,  and  the  rest — 
which  is,  I  should  think,  very  little — is  probably  invested  in 
the  Co-operative  Society.1  We  might  also  include  under  this 
head  the  eventual  right  of  the  family  to  the  insurances  in  the 
name  of  the  various  members. 

I  do  not  wish  to  leave  this  subject  without  calling  attention 
to  the  absence  of  one  noticeable  item  in  the  enumeration  of 
expenses,  that  of  taxes.  "  I  pay  no  taxes,"  said  Fisher.  He 
does  indeed  pay  indirectly  a  very  small  sum,  included  in  his 
rent,  but  that  is  all.  No  octroi?  hardly  any  duties,  and  no 
conscription.  Neither  the  hand  of  the  State  nor  the  hand  of 
the  county  nor  the  hand  of  the  parish  exert  any  sensible 
pressure.  "  However,"  he  added,  "  I  give  a  shilling  a  year  to 
the  Eoyal  Infirmary  of  Edinburgh,  like  the  rest  of  my  comrades, 
but  it  is  quite  voluntary,  and  we  are  entitled  to  be  looked 
after  in  the  Infirmary  in  the  case  of  accidents  for  which  the 
master  is  not  responsible."  This  is  indeed  an  attenuated  form 
of  taxation. 

III.  How  Fisher  brings  up  liis  Family. 

It  is  not  enough  to  know  how  the  problem  of  daily  bread 
is  solved  by  a  family  of  miners,  chosen  indeed  from  the  most 
respectable,  but  exceptional  in  no  other  respect.  We  must 
also  acquaint  ourselves  with  the  future  of  the  family.  We 
have  said  that  the  miner's  environment  is  closed  in  on  all  sides, 
but  nevertheless  there  is  a  road  of  escape,  and  Fisher's  case  is 
a  proof  of  this. 

Fisher  is  certainly  not  ready,  like  Brown,  to  leave  his  trade, 
nor  can  he  fall  back  upon  commerce,  like  the  Englishman. 
He  is  a  stone- worker,  and  might  be  a  collier,  but  take  him  out 

1  During  the  Scotch  miners'  strike  in  1894  Fisher  received  the  strike  pay 
allowed  by  the  Union,  but  was  obliged  to  dip  into  his  savings  considerably  to 
face  the  long  suspension  of  work.     He  voted  for  the  strike,  as  his  good  position 
permitted  him  to  resist. 

2  The  octroi  is  the  toll  imposed  on  merchandise  entering  French  towns.     It 
is  obvious  that  such  a  tax  really  falls  upon  the  consumer,  and  must  be  far  more 
severely  felt  by  the  poor  than  by  the  rich. 


CHAP,  in  IN  MINES  185 

of  the  pit  and  he  sinks  to  the  rank  of  a  navvy.  What 
distinguishes  him  from  the  mass  of  his  comrades,  and  marks 
him  out  as  among  the  most  wideawake  of  them,  is  that  he 
is  aware  of  the  disadvantage  of  being  so  tightly  bound  to  a 
specialism,  and  that  he  is  seeking  to  open  a  wider  field  to  his 
children. 

For  this  he  is  not  very  well  equipped.  A  worker  in  a 
small  mining  village  can  profit  only  by  the  local  resources, 
and  in  Eosewell  everything  is  connected  with  the  mine. 
Nevertheless,  even  there  he  chooses  whatever  is  least  closely 
connected  with  the  mine.  His  eldest  son  is  a  clerk  in  ftlr. 
Hood's  office,  which  will  qualify  him  to  become  later  a  clerk 
anywhere,  to  find  a  good  opening  in  a  business  house,  perhaps 
even  to  start  in  business  on  his  own  account,  if  he  knows  how 
to  seize  an  opportunity,  and  if  fortune  smiles  on  him.  The 
second  son  is  an  apprentice  in  the  joiner's  shop  connected  with 
the  mine.  There  he  is  learning  what  will  open  several  trades, 
as,  for  example,  carpentering,  cabinet-making,  and  others.  The 
method  is  obvious ;  it  consists  in  turning  to  account  all  the 
means  at  disposal  in  a  peculiarly  unfavourable  position  to 
prevent  the  over-specialisation  of  the  child  and  facilitate  his 
escape  from  the  position  of  a  miner. 

It  is  obvious  that  all  this  is  the  result  of  a  very  definite 
idea  on  the  father's  part.  It  is  an  idea  which  has  grown  and 
ripened,  and  which  has  long  been  exerting  its  influence  upon 
the  children.  They  would  have  gone  straight  to  the  mine  if 
they  had  been  allowed.  As  sons  of  a  well-known  stone-worker, 
they  would  have  found  an  opening,  and  their  father  was  in  a 
position  to  give  them  work  under  favourable  conditions. 
Further,  they  knew  that  the  pit  ensured  a  good  living,  they 
saw  an  example  of  it  in  their  own  home,  where  all  the 
resources  were  drawn  from  it,  and  where  things  prospered  in 
spite  of  the  heavy  burden  of  expenses.  What,  then,  induced 
them  to  turn  from  remunerative  work  within  their  reach  in 
order  to  brave  the  unknown  ?  This  is  a  phenomenon  in 
education. 

Education  does  not  consist  wholly  in  moral  training  and 
instruction.  It  is  the  result  of  a  mass  of  opinions  which  lead 
us  to  act  in  such  and  such  a  direction,  and  of  a  sum  of  habits 
which  exercise  a  strong  influence  on  the  direction  and  efficacy 


i86  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

of  our  faculty  of  action.  The  principles  of  religion  and 
morality  and  the  knowledge  imparted  by  instruction  furnish, 
it  is  true,  a  part  of  these  opinions  and  habits,  but  they  do  not 
furnish  them  exclusively.  The  judgments  we  hear  expressed 
around  us  in  early  years,  the  sage  lessons  of  experience  or  out- 
of-date  prejudices,  usually  form  the  foundation  of  our  opinions. 
The  manner  in  which  our  parents  live  forms  the  foundation  of 
our  habits.  All  these  conditions  contribute  to  determine  the 
particular  being  represented  by  each  of  us. 

Evidently  it  cannot  be  an  unimportant  matter  that  the 
young  Fishers  have  often  heard  their  father  say,  as  he  said  to 
me,  "  If  I  had  been  anything  but  a  miner  I  should  have  got 
on  in  America."  This  is  a  subject  of  conversation  which 
frequently  comes  up.  Mrs.  Fisher  has  a  sister  in  the  United 
States  who  works  in  a  lace  factory  and  earns  $11  a  week. 
She  often  writes  to  Eosewell,  and  congratulates  herself  on  her 
lot.  Her  letters  are  discussed  by  the  family,  and  I  picture 
Fisher  answering  his  children's  questions,  recalling  what  the 
elder  children  remember  of  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio,  and  ending, 
"  Yes,  yes,  America  is  a  fine  country  ;  but  don't  be  a  miner  if 
you  want  to  get  on  there."  Nor  is  Mrs.  Fisher's  sister  the 
only  one  of  her  family  who  has  settled  in  the  States.  All  her 
people  are  there,  and  there  is  constant  communication  and 
comparison  between  this  isolated  and  peaceful  family  of  Scottish 
miners  and  the  great  industrial  centres  of  the  Eastern  States. 
Further,  the  eldest  daughter  has  friends  over  there,  and  she 
speaks  as  a  matter  of  course  of  going  out  to  them,  as  if  the 
project  were  quite  simple  and  easy  of  execution.  All  these 
circumstances  contribute  powerfully  to  widen  the  horizon  of 
childish  imagination,  to  suggest  a  future  outside  White  Hill 
Colliery,  and  to  save  the  children  from  the  over-specialisation 
of  their  father. 

Thus,  the  most  notable  factor  in  Fisher's  educational  influ- 
ence on  his  children,  the  circumstance  which  has  contributed 
most  to  elevate  them,  is  the  experience  which  he  acquired  from 
his  residence  in  America.  Without  it  they  would  probably 
have  been  quite  content  to  follow  their  father's  trade. 

This  is  not  mere  chance.  It  would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose 
that  if  Fisher  had  one  day  taken  it  into  his  head  to  emigrate 
to  Pennsylvania,  and  two  years  later  to  return  home,  his 


CHAP,  in  IN  MINES  187 

conduct  would  have  resulted,  mechanically  and  inevitably,  in 
a  great  educational  advantage  for  his  children.  It  must  be 
noted  that  Fisher  made  a  vigorous  effort  to  go  to  Pittsburgh. 
He  was  married,  the  father  of  a  family,  and  had  work  at 
Eosewell.  When  he  decided  to  emigrate  he  had  a  weighty 
reason,  the  wish  to  make  a  good  position  better,  and  not  to 
escape  from  poverty.  He  cherished  the  legitimate  ambition  of 
rising.  Having  arrived  in  the  New  World,  and  having  tried 
to  settle  first  in  Pennsylvania  and  then  in  Ohio,  he  found  that 
he  lacked  something  necessary  to  success,  he  realised  that  he 
had  not  the  necessary  flexibility,  and  that  his  specialism  was 
a  hindrance  rather  than  a  help.  I  have  already  pointed  out 
that  he  was  not  ripe  for  America,  and  this  fact  he  discovered. 
The  discovery  was  well  worth  the  voyage.  Courageously  and 
patiently  he  returned  to  the  Lothians,  and  took  up  again  the 
chain  he  had  not  succeeded  in  breaking,  but  with  the  resolve 
that  he  would  not  fetter  his  children  in  the  same  way.  He 
made  a  false  start  himself,  but  he  has  taken  measures  that  the 
next  generation  shall  not  do  the  same.  Here,  indeed,  is  a 
phenomenon  in  parental  influence  and  education. 

If  opportunities  of  bettering  themselves  present  themselves 
in  the  mother  country,  his  children  will  be  able  to  seize  them. 
They  are  educated  for  the  Lothians  or  for  China  not  less  than 
for  America :  they  are  educated  with  a  view  to  profiting  by 
favourable  circumstances  wherever  these  occur. 

Such,  at  least,  is  their  father's  plan,  the  end  towards  which 
he  is  working.  It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  the  limited 
sphere  of  Eosewell  will  allow  of  its  development.  Mr.  Hood's 
clerk  can  easily  find  a  way  out,  but  the  joiner's  apprentice  will, 
probably  find  himself  less  favourably  situated.  His  specialism 
is,  indeed,  less  exclusive  than  a  collier's,  but  it  is  still  a 
specialism.  If  we  compare  the  future  of  this  family  with  that 
of  Brown's,  we  are  struck  by  the  advantages  which  a  large, 
active,  growing  centre  offers  to  a  prudent  father  for  putting 
his  children  out  into  the  world.  What  would  be  easy  and 
likely  to  be  realised  in  Birmingham  becomes  problematic  in 
Eosewell.  Fisher's  children  are  at  a  disadvantage  too  from 
another  point  of  view.  Their  father  can  point  out  the  road 
they  should  follow,  but  he  has  not  set  foot  in  it  himself 
like  Brown,  nor  has  he  at  his  disposal  the  same  financial 


1 88 

means  to  fit  them  thoroughly  for  the  part  he  wishes  them 
to  play. 

With  regard  to  his  daughters,  Fisher  has  very  definite  ideas, 
and  declares  that  they  shall  not  go  to  factories.  His  wife,  who 
in  her  youth  worked  in  the  neighbouring  carpet  factory  of 
Bonnyrigg,  is  of  the  same  opinion,  and  both  agree  that  it  is 
much  better  to  go  into  service  in  some  respectable  family. 
This  is  what  they  chose  for  the  eldest  girl,  who  is  in  Mr. 
Hood's  service. 

At  first  sight  this  view  of  the  question  somewhat  astonished 
me.  I  asked  myself  how  Fisher,  who  has  shown  ambition  for 
his  sons  and  knowledge  of  the  world  in  the  way  he  has  started 
them  in  life,  could  find  nothing  better  than  domestic  service 
for  his  daughters.  No  doubt  he  is  careful  to  choose  good  places, 
and  he  has  been  particularly  lucky  in  the  case  of  the  first, 
but  it  would  hardly  seem  that  the  profession  of  a  domestic 
servant  commonly  offers  those  opportunities  of  advancement 
which  he  seeks  for  his  sons.  Does  he  then  sacrifice  his 
daughters,  or  is  the  position  of  a  domestic  servant  different  in 
England  and  Scotland,  in  certain  cases,  from  what  it  is  in 
France  ? 

Evidently  the  latter  hypothesis  is  the  one  we  must  adopt. 
If  Fisher  sacrificed  his  daughters — if,  indeed,  he  had  no  special 
care  for  their  future — he  would  let  them  do  like  the  rest,  a  simple 
course  for  apathetic  parents,  and  would  leave  them  to  be  caught 
by  the  current  which  draws  most  of  the  other  miners'  daughters 
to  the  carpet  or  paper  factories  in  the  neighbourhood,  especially 
to  those  at  Roslin,  two  or  three  miles  off.  Every  day  you  may 
see  groups  of  young  women  going  to  their  work  in  the  morning 
and  returning  in  the  evening,  enlivening  the  pretty  road  which 
leads  from  the  bare  moor  of  Eosewell  to  the  shady  and  pictur- 
esque glen  of  Roslin.  With  their  bare  arms  and  a  woollen 
shawl  over  their  head  and  shoulders,  they  might  pass  for 
Lancashire  factory  lasses,  but  for  the  knitting  in  their  hands, 
which  betrays  their  Scottish  nationality.  They  are  very  decent- 
looking  girls  too.  Miss  B ,  who  lives  between  Rosewell 

and  Roslin,  and  meets  them  constantly,  had  no  complaint  to 
make  of  their  manner  of  coming  and  going.  I  have  more 
than  once  met  them  myself,  and  the  general  impression  was 
very  unlike  that  produced  by  a  walk  in  East  London  or  in  the 


CHAP,  in  IN  MINES  189 

streets  of  Liverpool.     Their  manners  are  neither  supercilious 

nor  rough.     Miss  B and  I  one  day  found  ourselves  at  a 

level  crossing  on  the  North  British  Kailway,  just  behind  such 
a  group.  One  of  the  girls,  who  did  not  know  us  at  all,  was 
careful  to  hold  the  gate  open  in  order  to  save  us  the  trouble  of 
opening  it  again  behind  her.  I  note  these  trifles  to  show  that 
the  life  of  factory  girls  is  not  an  abyss  of  degradation,  corrup- 
tion, and  brutalisation,  from  which  conscientious  parents  are 
bound  to  snatch  their  daughters.  We  shall  see  what  morality 
is  worth  there,  but  so  far  appearances  are  satisfactory,  which 
creates  a  presumption  in  its  favour. 

I  made  observations  to  the  same  effect  under  absolutely 
similar  conditions  at  Dunfermline,  a  small  industrial  town  in 
Fife,  surrounded  by  coal-fields.  Many  of  the  young  girls 
employed  in  the  factories  belong  to  mining  families  in  the 
neighbourhood,  and  several  of  them,  whose  homes  are  at 
a  distance,  live  in  lodgings,  which  are  said  to  be  highly 
respectable. 

Why,  then,  are  Fisher  and  his  wife  so  firm  in  refusing  to 
allow  their  daughters  to  go  to  the  factories  ?  It  is  not  a 
mere  notion  they  have  got  into  their  heads,  such  as  might  be 
held  on  the  subject  by  a  middle -class  family,  where  the 
daughters  are  not  obliged  to  work.  It  is  an  opinion  which 
deprives  them  of  a  very  real  and  positive  benefit,  that  of 
seeing  additional  wages  added  to  the  family  income.  Half  a 
sovereign  a  week  means  £26  a  year,  which  is  something  with 
an  income  under  £120  a  year.  It  is  far  more  than  would 
pay  for  the  board  and  lodging  of  a  young  girl  in  the  style  in 
which  the  Fishers  live.  Of  their  own  free  will,  then,  they 
renounce  an  advantage  by  sending  their  daughter  into  service, 
for  her  wages  are  then,  of  course,  quite  at  her  own  disposal. 

It  must  be,  therefore,  that  they  think  there  is  a  certain 
educational  value  in  service,  and  if  their  opinion  is  correct, 
service  in  Scotland  must  differ  considerably  from  service  in 
France.  This  is,  in  fact,  the  case. 

In  the  first  place,  one  notable  difference  is  that  a  young 
girl  who  goes  into  service  does  not  by  any  means  consider  that 
she  is  entering  a  distinct  class,  the  servant  class ;  she  thinks 
she  is  choosing  this  method  of  earning  her  living  as  she  would 
choose  any  other,  until  she  marries ;  she  is  in  a  sense  serving 


IQO  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

her  probation  for  marriage.  To  use  an  expression  which  will 
often  recur  in  dealing  with  the  classification  of  occupations, 
service  is  a  very  despecialised  trade,  at  any  rate  in  ordinary 
families,  where  a  man-servant  is  an  unknown  luxury,  and  it  is 
in  such  a  family  that  Fisher  has  placed  his  daughter.  This 
observation,  like  those  which  follow,  must  not  be  taken  gener- 
ally as  applying  to  service  in  large  establishments.  Butlers 
and  powdered  footmen,  who  are  legion  in  the  mansions  of  the 
nobility  and  merchant  princes,  are  even  more  noticeable  than 
French  maitres  d'hotel  and  valets  and  lackeys  for  the  vacant 
and  solemn  expression  which  befits  their  occupation.  They 
are  specialists  of  an  extreme  type,  swollen  with  a  sense  of 
their  own  importance  and  dignity,  impassive  as  statues,  and 
undoubtedly  form  a  class  apart.  The  same  thing  may  be 
said  of  the  femme  de  chartibre  of  a  duchess,  of  her  French  chef, 
and  of  the  skilful  coachman  who  drives  her  in  Hyde  Park. 
It  is  almost  always  necessary,  in  any  appreciations  of  England, 
to  distinguish  carefully  between  the  upper  classes  who  come 
most  to  the  front  and  the  nation  of  workers  behind.  In  the 
present  case  there  is  a  great  gulf  fixed  between  the  professional 
man-servant  in  the  first  and  the  temporary  maid  in  the  second 
class.  We  are  here  concerned  only  with  the  latter.  It  is 
certain  that  Fisher  does  not  think  his  daughter  is  destined  to 
live  and  die  in  Mr.  Hood's  service,  sincerely  attached  to  the 
family  as  she  seems. 

Secondly,  masters  here  are  interested  in  their  servants.  I 
do  not  refer  to  such  consideration  as  might  be  inspired  by 
prudence  of  an  entirely  selfish  kind,  but  to  real  interest, 
prompted  by  the  feeling  that  servants  are  human  beings. 
Young  girls  are  not  exposed  to  the  nocturnal  promiscuity  of 
a  sixth  storey,  jointly  occupied  by  the  servants  of  all  the 
tenants,  as  they  are  in  Paris,  often  as  a  matter  of  course. 
Each  family  occupies  a  separate  house,  where  the  servant  has 
proper  quarters,  and  the  kitchen,  laundry,  and  servants'  offices 
are  healthy  and  decent,  and  generally  kept  with  scrupulous 
care.  In  some  families,  where  great  importance  is  attached  to 
religious  and  moral  training,  the  servants  are  invited  to  share 
these  interests  as  much  as  possible.  I  have  never  heard 
servants  addressed  in  the  unseemly  and  odious  language  which 
is  unfortunately  but  too  commonly  employed  in  France,  by 


CHAP,  in  IN  MINES  191 

persons  who  call  themselves  well-bred,  to  a  careless  cook  or 
a  clumsy  lady's-maid.  They  are  treated  with  the  same  respect 
for  the  dignity  and  personality  of  a  human  being  as  is  seen 
in  the  education  of  children.  Children  are  talked  to  like 
grown  persons,  and  servants  like  men  of  the  world.  It  is  a 
good  way  to  educate  and  elevate  both. 

The  same  phenomenon  is  seen  in  the  liberty  allowed  to 
them.  I  have  already  had  occasion  to  notice  that  in  Birming- 
ham servants  are  accustomed  to  frequent  leave  of  absence  and 
a  yearly  holiday.  It  is  much  the  same,  with  some  difference 
in  detail,  in  all  parts  of  Great  Britain,  and  although  young 
servants  are  preserved  from  the  moral  dangers  of  Parisian  life, 
yet  they  are  subject  to  no  surveillance  in  their  walks  and  in 
the  company  they  keep.  It  is  considered  quite  natural  that 
they  should  employ  the  time  at  their  own  disposal  as  they 
think  fit,  and  this  line  of  conduct  is  justified  by  the  habits  of 
independence  and  respectability  which  are  the  rule.  It  is 
thought  that  all  young  girls,  whether  servants  or  not,  must 
serve  their  apprenticeship  to  life  by  learning  how  to  conduct 
themselves,  and  by  gaining  experience  for  themselves.  These 
mitigations  of  the  bondage  of  service  prevent  this  occupation 
from  exerting  so  fatal  an  influence  on  initiative  as  when  the 
subjection  is  close,  complete,  and  constant.  This  is  the  redeem- 
ing feature  in  the  position  of  servants,  they  are  not  com- 
pelled by  an  inexorable  law  to  remain  in  service  all  their  lives, 
or  to  fail  in  their  first  attempt  to  change  their  condition  from 
incapacity  for  self-guidance.  Their  will  has  not  become 
atrophied  nor  paralysed  through  disuse. 

Service,  thus  stripped  of  its  gravest  disadvantages,  offers 
the  advantage  of  respectability,  which  Fisher  and  his  wife 
appear  to  value  highly.  A  young  girl  placed  in  a  carefully 
chosen  family  comes  into  contact  with  a  superior  class,  and  thus 
acquires  habits  of  care  and  cleanliness  and  a  higher  standard 
of  material  life  as  well  as  of  morality.  Later,  when  she  becomes 
a  wife  and  mother,  she  carries  these  habits  into  her  own  home, 
to  the  great  gain  of  her  husband  and  children.  Mrs.  Fisher 
expresses  this  by  saying  that  factory  girls  know  nothing 
about  housekeeping.  The  expression  is  hardly  just,  for  they 
might  learn  easily  enough,  if  they  cared  to  do  so,  as  Mrs. 
Fisher  herself  did,  although  she  had  worked  in  her  youth  at 


i92  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

Bonnyrigg.  But  they  do  not  care  to  do  so ;  they  have  none  of 
that  liking  for  a  comfortable  and  attractive  home  which  makes 
a  husband  glad  to  come  back  after  his  day's  work,  none  of 
that  love  of  cleanliness  and  order  which  is  not  far  removed 
from  elegance,  none  of  that  desire  for  something  better  which 
expresses  itself  in  ingenious  attempts  at  ornament,  though  all 
these  things  are  so  many  links  to  attach  a  working  man  to  his 
own  fireside,  and  so  many  influences  helping  to  transform  the 
house,  the  mere  place  of  shelter,  into  a  true  hearth  and  home. 

Mrs.  Fisher  is  also  influenced  by  another  consideration 
that  of  the  marriage  of  her  daughters.  Marriages  are  con- 
tracted at  an  early  age  at  Kosewell,  and  in  most  mining 
centres.  As  I  have  already  explained,  young  men  are  soon  in 
a  position  to  earn  good  wages,  so  that  there  is  no  need  of 
vigorous  or  persevering  effort  on  their  part  in  order  to  support 
a  family.  Thus  they  marry,  not  by  a  process  of  selection,  but 
en  masse,  all  at  once,  from  eighteen  to  twenty.  It  is  not 
difficult  to  commence  housekeeping,  for  there  are  plenty  of 
merchants  willing  to  sell  the  few  bits  of  necessary  furniture 
on  credit,  while  the  relations  and  friends  bidden  to  the 
marriage  all  give  a  small  present,  and  as  wages  are  high  and 
expenses  small  to  begin  with,  the  young  couple  have  no  im- 
mediate hardships  to  dread.  Consequently  the  factory  girl  is 
quite  willing  to  be  courted  by  the  first  lad  she  meets,  and 
marries  him  without  any  fear  of  material  difficulties,  proud  to 
exchange  her  work  in  the  factory  for  the  dignity  of  marriage. 
Marriages  are  lightly  made,  and  often  to  legalise  previous 
relations.  Such  irregularities  are  very  rife  in  Kosewell,  and 
public  opinion  is  not  very  hard  upon  them  if  the  situation  is 
regularised.  A  young  man  who  refused  to  marry  the  girl 
he  had  seduced  would  find  himself  in  a  very  bad  case,  without 
taking  into  account  his  legal  responsibilities.  Such  a  case 
occurred  at  Kosewell  a  few  years  ago,  and  the  man  was  kicked 
out  of  the  village.  These  summary  acts  of  justice  do  not, 
however,  prevent  the  very  real  and  grave  evil  of  marriages 
concluded  without  judgment.  Miss  Thomson  told  me  that 
girls  would  marry  anybody  at  twenty,  and  a  colliery  proprietor 
in  Fife  told  me  that  if  a  clerk  or  a  Dunfermline  tradesman 
were  to  marry  as  the  colliers  do,  he  would  be  thought  a  fool. 

By  sending   their   daughters  out   to  service,  the  Fishers 


CHAP,  in  IN  MINES  193 

enable  them  to  escape  the  epidemic  of  imprudent  marriages. 
The  girls  are  thrown  less  in  contact  with  the  youth  of  the 
neighbourhood,  and  they  get  a  little  ambition,  as  well  as  a 
higher  standard  of  material  refinement.  Consequently  the 
prospect  of  settling  down  in  a  miner's  cottage,  with  its  meagre 
furniture,  and  with  no  money  at  their  backs,  is  not  one  that 
arouses  any  great  enthusiasm,  and  as  they  are  less  ready  to 
rush  into  housekeeping,  they  are  more  likely  to  make  suitable 
marriages. 

We  have  seen  that  the  means  of  elevation  within  reach  of 
Fisher's  children  are  much  lessened  through  the  circumstance 
of  their  living  in  a  small  mining  village.  The  various  forms 
of  employment  offered  to  their  activity  are  very  limited,  and 
initiative  is  not  keenly  stimulated,  as  it  would  be  in  a  great 
manufacturing  centre,  by  the  spectacle  of  a  crowd  of  different 
enterprises.  However,  neither  instruction  nor  moral  training 
have  been  lacking.  I  visited  the  Rosewell  schools  with 
interest,  not  only  to  hear  the  little  Fishers  questioned,  but 
also  to  acquaint  myself  with  the  organisation  of  the  schools 
and  the  nature  of  their  influence. 

The  first  point  to  note,  and  one  which  strikes  a  Frenchman 
most,  is  the  social  standing  of  village  schoolmasters  and 
schoolmistresses,  which  is  certainly  superior  to  that  of  school- 
masters and  schoolmistresses  in  the  rural  communes  of  France. 
They  exhibit  more  dignity,  more  self  -  respect,  more  moral 
elevation.  They  enjoy  a  position  of  more  consideration,  and  do 
not  seem  affected  by  that  chronic  malady,  born  of  the  spirit 
of  antagonism  and  inferior  social  status,  which  expresses  itself 
by  distrust  and  jealousy  towards  the  upper  classes  on  the  one 
hand,  and  on  the  other  by  a  proud  and  contemptuous  bearing 
towards  the  labouring  classes.  This  difference  is  due  to  a 
number  of  causes  of  which  the  following  are,  I  think,  among 
the  principal. 

In  the  first  place,  the  persons  who  devote  themselves  to 
teaching  in  primary  schools  usually  belong  to  a  better  class. 
The  female  teachers  especially,  who  are  more  numerous  than 
the  male  teachers,  as  they  have  the  charge  of  infants  of  both 
sexes,  are  usually  daughters  of  well-to-do  farmers,  tradesmen, 
small  employers,  and  well-paid  working  men.  This  is  frequently 
the  case  in  France  too,  but  in  England  such  families  have  a 

o 


I94  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

higher  standard  of  comfort  than  in  France.  Generally  speak- 
ing, their  ideas  are  less  grovelling  and  more  enlightened.  Of 
many  it  cannot  be  said  that  they  belong  to  a  lower  class, 
although  they  may  do  so  temporarily,  for  they  are  ready  to 
rise  to  a  higher  level  when  their  means  of  existence  permit, 
and  marvellously  well  equipped  to  acquire  more  ample  means. 
Take  for  example  the  case  of  Brown's  eldest  daughter,  who  is 
at  present  a  pupil  -  teacher,  and  on  her  way  to  become  a 
certificated  mistress.  Can  we  suppose  that  the  remarkable 
spirit  of  progress  and  of  push  which  have  coloured  her  home 
education  will  not  be  seen  in  her  influence  upon  her  pupils,  in 
her  own  attitude,  and  in  the  judgments  she  forms.  She  pos- 
sesses as  her  birthright  a  real  talent  for  educating  the  young. 

Working-class  families,  then,  have  a  legitimate  ambition  to 
rise,  while  those  in  which  the  father  belongs  to  a  liberal 
profession  are  not  rendered  sterile  to  the  same  degree  as  in 
France  by  their  contempt  for  work.  The  daughter  of  a 
clergyman  with  a  small  income  will  not  think  she  is  doing 
anything  derogatory  in  teaching  in  a  primary  school.  Nor 
will  she  be  pitied  because  she  has  to  earn  her  living,  for  that 
does  not  appear,  even  to  a  young  girl,  as  the  supreme  mis- 
fortune ;  indeed,  nothing  is  thought  more  natural.  Thus 
teachers  are  not  uncommonly  drawn  from  non-artisan  families, 
without  the  circumstance  appearing  in  any  way  abnormal  or 
exceptional.  In  this  way  the  profession  is  rising. 

Village  schools  are  strictly  dependent  on  the  local  School 
Board,  which  nominates  the  teachers,  fixes  and  pays  their 
salaries,  and  can  even  to  a  certain  extent  determine  the 
programme.  At  first  sight  it  would  seem  that  such  depend- 
ence must  lower  the  position  of  the  teachers,  but  the  reverse 
is  the  case.  It  is  certain  that  Fisher  has  more  respect  for 
Miss  Thomson,  who  teaches  two  of  his  children,  than  a  French 
peasant  has  for  the  communal  teacher  in  his  village,  whose 
official  position  he  envies,  but  whose  educational  role  he  fails 
to  appreciate.  The  latter  is  not  responsible  in  any  way  to 
the  parent  for  the  manner  in  which  he  teaches  his  children,  but 
is  like  any  other  bureauocrat,  accomplishing  a  piece  of  routine 
work,  without  any  link  between  him  and  the  population  whose 
future,  by  a  bitter  irony,  it  is  his  mission  to  prepare.  In 
Scotland  the  head  of  a  family  has  a  direct  interest  in  school 


CHAP,  in  IN  MINES  195 

affairs,  he  feels  that  his  influence  is  real,  and  that  he  is 
responsible  for  their  right  direction,  and  that  the  teacher 
whose  task  is  to  co-operate  in  the  work  of  education  is  really 
invested  with  his  confidence. 

To  render  the  influence  of  parents  on  school  organisation 
more  direct  and  more  conclusive,  an  ingenious  process  is 
resorted  to  which  assures  the  effective  representation  of 
minorities.  It  is  known  as  cumulative  voting,  and  consists 
in  giving  to  one  candidate  the  total  number  of  votes  which 
might  be  divided  among  the  different  candidates  on  the  list. 
At  Eosewell,  for  instance,  the  School  Board  consists  of  seven 
members,  and  each  elector  has  consequently  seven  votes.  By 
means  of  cumulative  voting,  he  can  give  the  whole  seven  votes 
to  one  person,  and  thus  it  is  easy  for  a  compact  minority  to 
secure  a  representative  on  the  School  Board.  Thus  in 
Manchester,  Bradford,  Sheffield,  and  many  other  towns 
Eoman  Catholic  priests  have  seats  on  the  Board,  although 
Catholics  form  only  a  small  minority. 

Thanks  to  this  system,  teachers  appointed  by  the  School 
Board  are  really  elected  by  families,  and  are  in  communication 
with  them  and  directly  represent  them.  It  was  by  the 
kind  offices  of  Miss  Thomson  that  I  was  introduced  to  the 
Fishers,  and  I  have  often  been  in  a  position  to  render 
acknowledgment  to  her  profound  knowledge  of  the  population. 
Naturally,  when  the  School  Board  gets  hold  of  a  capable 
teacher,  it  does  not  part  with  such  a  one.  Miss  Thomson  has 
been  eighteen  years  at  Eosewell,  and  that  creates  ties  in  a 
village.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Board  can  dismiss  a  master 
or  mistress  on  no  other  ground  than  that  of  unsuitability  or 
want  of  success,  and  they  have  not  to  concern  themselves,  as 
in  France,  with  finding  another  appointment  for  the  un- 
successful teacher.  Thus  there  is  at  work  a  constant  process 
of  selection  of  the  fittest,  and  it  is  not  difficult  to  understand 
that  the  results  are  satisfactory. 

To  get  good  teachers  they  must  be  well  paid,  and  this  is 
done.  At  Eosewell  the  head  master  gets  £200 — £160  in  money 
and  the  equivalent  of  £40  in  lodging.  The  head  mistress  gets 
£80,  assistant  mistresses  £40,  and  pupil-teachers  £12  to  £16. 

Eosewell  school  is  thus  organised  on  lines  calculated  to 
promote  the  joint  efforts  of  parents  and  carefully -chosen 


196  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

teachers  for  the  instruction  of  the  children.  It  is  a  powerful 
aid  to  the  different  families,  nor  is  it  without  influence  from 
the  point  of  view  of  religious  and  moral  education,  in  spite  of 
its  unsectarian  character.  It  is  not  unsectarian  in  the  same 
sense  as  in  France,  that  is  to  say,  indifferent  or  hostile  to 
religion,  but  it  does  not  recognise  differences  of  creed.  This 
leads  me  to  point  out  very  briefly  how  religious  questions 
are  generally  regarded  in  the  milieu  under  discussion. 

Very  strong  religious  convictions  are  held  by  the  Scottish 
middle  class,  more  especially  by  members  of  the  Free  Church 
of  Scotland.  I  have  had  many  opportunities  of  recognising 
the  profound  sincerity  of  their  beliefs,  the  reality  of  the  in- 
fluence of  their  religion  upon  their  lives,  and  their  stanch 
devotion  to  principle.  There  is  much  more  indifference, 
apparently,  among  the  working  class,  and  there  is  no  doubt 
that  church-going  is  looked  upon  rather  as  a  sign  of  respect- 
ability which  goes  along  with  a  certain  material  elevation.  At 
Rosewell  the  young  do  not  generally  go  to  church,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Irish  Catholics,  who  form  about  a  quarter  of 
the  population.  Once  married,  however,  the  greater  number 
become  church-goers,  but  still  retain  their  indifference  to 
religious  exercises.  We  saw  in  Fisher's  case  that  Bible  read- 
ing is  not  common  in  the  majority  of  average  families,  and  the 
education  which  the  children  receive  shows  no  trace  of  dog- 
matic religious  teaching.  But  in  Scotland,  as  in  England, 
there  is  a  widespread  feeling  that  religion  is  a  serious  matter, 
which  must  not  be  treated  lightly,  and  that  its  influence  is 
moralising  and  elevating.  Further,  the  doctrine  of  revelation 
is  almost  universally  accepted.  It  is  true  that  a  few  divines 
who  have  devoted  themselves  to  Biblical  exegesis  have  held 
very  bold  opinions  on  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible,  and  tend 
towards  rationalism,  but  the  bulk  of  the  British  nation  believes 
in  the  supernatural  revelation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  this 
doctrine  lies  outside  the  scope  of  religious  differences.  Thus, 
underneath  the  semblance  of  irreligion  we  find,  even  in  the 
classes  to  which  these  matters  seem  of  the  least  account,  a 
substratum  of  Christian  belief,  which  is  very  different  from  the 
strongly  marked  anti-religious  feeling  so  general  in  France  in 
all  classes. 

This  difference  of  attitude  explains  a  variety  of  opinions 


CHAP,  in  IN  MINES  197 

regarding  unsectarian  schools  which  are  generally  held  in 
England,  but  which  would  be  very  startling  in  France.  Miss 
Thomson,  herself  a  stanch  Protestant,  declared  herself  entirely 
in  favour  of  the  unsectarian  system,  asserting  that  it  was,  in 
many  cases,  the  only  one  which  ensured  children  proper  instruc- 
tion. "Take  the  case  of  Eosewell,"  she  said;  "out  of  300 
children  of  age  to  attend  school,  we  have  about  80  belonging 
to  Catholic  families.  These  families  are  generally  Irish, — poor, 
moderately  improvident,  and  generous.  They  support  their 
schools  somehow,  but  it  is  a  great  burden  on  them,  and  they 
cannot  afford  good  teachers.  Thus  they  make  heavy  sacrifices 
to  give  their  children  an  inferior  education.  It  would  be 
.infinitely  better  for  the  school  to  teach  all  the  children  without 
giving  any  religious  instruction,  and  to  let  each  denomination 
arrange  to  supply  such  instruction  to  its  adherents."  Nor 
should  I  be  astonished  if  there,  where  the  different  sects  are  on 
good  terms,  such  a  compromise  could  be  loyally  carried  out,  pro- 
ducing all  the  advantages  which  Miss  Thomson  anticipates.  But 
unfortunately  this  is  not  the  case  everywhere,  and  Miss  Thomson 
admitted  that  Presbyterian  ministers  are  much  prejudiced 
against  Roman  Catholics,  and  do.  not  hesitate  to  show  it. 
Given  these  germs  of  antagonism,  the  education  in  common  of 
children  belonging  to  rival  churches  would  present  many 
difficulties.  On  the  other  hand,  the  situation  as  it  stands 
to-day  also  presents  very  serious  ones.  It  is  clear,  for  instance, 
that  the  Irish  children  in  Rosewell,  who  as  a  rule  find  but  few 
stirring  examples  in  their  own  families,  lose  much  if  they  do 
not  come  into  contact  with  a  more  bracing  environment  by 
going  to  the  public  school.  Further,  prejudices  have  less 
chance  of  disappearing  if  each  denomination  brings  up  its 
children  apart.  I  have  sometimes  heard  Catholic  children  and 
youths  make  sweeping  statements  about  the  Protestant  clergy, 
which  very  little  experience  and  contact  with  Protestants 
would  have  modified  as  they  deserved. 

In  this  analysis  of  the  means  of  elevation  within  reach 
of  the  Rosewell  miners,  we  must  not  omit  to  mention  the 
enormous  influence  of  the  press.  As  I  have  said,  Fisher  takes 
in  the  Evening  News  and  the  Weekly  News.  His  conversation 
shows  his  interest  in  politics,  not  merely  in  the  narrow  sense 
of  party  politics,  but  in  their  wider  general  aspects.  This 


198  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

stone-worker  is  beyond  doubt  far  better  informed  about  what 
is  going  on  in  the  world  than  the  great  majority  of  Frenchmen 
who  have  received  what  is  called  a  liberal  education.  When 
I  was  in  Rose  well  (September  1893)  bimetallism  or  mono- 
metallism was  the  question  of  the  day.  Fisher  was  keenly 
interested  in  the  different  American  Silver  Bills,  and  we  talked 
about  the  abolition  of  the  Sherman  Law  and  the  probable 
modifications  of  the  M'Kinley  Tariff  Bill.  He  gave  his  opinion, 
not  like  a  man  who  talks  for  talking's  sake,  but  like  a  serious 
man  who  has  taken  pains  to  acquire  information,  and  for  whom 
such  discussions  correspond  to  realities  in  his  own  experience. 
He  has  lived  in  the  States,  and  has  been  paid  in  the  silver 
dollars  alluded  to  in  bimetallist  debates,  he  has  paid  three 
times  as  much  for  his  clothes  as  in  Scotland,  he  has  experi- 
enced in  his  own  trade  the  effect  of  the  crises  precipitated  by 
tariff  legislation,  and  when  the  Evening  News  informs  him  of 
what  is  going  on  he  sees  the  consequences  they  will  have  in  a 
series  of  small  facts  which  are  familiar  to  him.  Hence  his 
enormous  interest  in  information  pure  and  simple,  without  any 
colouring  or  commentary,  which  he  can  supply  for  himself. 
Moreover,  American  relations  and  friends  write  to  him  occa- 
sionally, and  whet  his  appetite  for  American  news.  It  is 
impossible  to  mention  a  leading  town  in  the  United  States 
without  his  remembering  that  he  knows  some  one  there. 
Denver,  St.  Louis,  Pittsburgh,  Cincinnati,  which  I  mentioned 
on  purpose,  always  reminded  him  that  he  had  some  relation  or 
friend  settled  there.  Of  course,  too,  he  has  his  views  about 
Australia,  New  Zealand,  and  the  Cape,  for  what  Scotsman  is 
so  forsaken  of  God  and  man  as  not  to  know  some  countryman 
there.  To  a  Briton  the  whole  world  does  not  seem  so  great 
as  does  Europe  to  a  Frenchman,  and,  above  all,  it  seems  less 

foreign.     At  a  dinner-party  given  by  Mrs.  B 1  heard  Mr. 

Hood  say  to  the  hostess,  "  The  other  day  I  met  a  young  fellow 
employed  in  the  paper  mills  at  Eoslin,  who  knew  your  son  in 
Japan."  "  Oh,  that  is  very  likely ;  my  son  is  very  hospitable 
to  his  countrymen."  Nothing  more  ;  the  conversation  turned 
on  other  subjects,  and  no  one  seemed  to  see  anything  worthy 
of  remark  in  the  fact  of  two  Scotsmen  meeting  in  Japan. 

It  is  not  easy  to  deceive   men  whose  mode  of  life   and 
various  ties  and  interests  keep  them  informed,  without  any 


CHAP,  in  IN  MINES  199 

effort  on  their  part,  respecting  a  variety  of  matters.  This  is 
why  the  English  press  is  so  careful  to  obtain  as  far  as  possible 
precise  and  authentic  information.  When  information  is  falsi- 
fied it  is  done  in  the  interests  of  the  country,  and  to  throw 
dust  in  the  eyes  of  foreign  countries.  Consequently  the  in- 
fluence of  the  press  is  something  very  different  from  that  of 
the  French  press ;  it  instructs  its  readers  and  keeps  them  in 
touch  with  a  variety  of  matters,  and  certainly  tends  to  open 
their  minds.  It  is  infinitely  more  in  earnest,  and  only  admits 
the  serial  story,  which  forms  the  chief  attraction  in  popular 
French  journals,  into  its  uncoordinated  and  overcrowded 
weekly  edition.  I  cannot  doubt  that  Fisher  owes  much  to  his 
daily  newspaper  reading,  rendered  fruitful  by  his  souvenirs  of  his 
sojourn  abroad  and  his  personal  relations  with  other  countries. 

This  is  important  for  Fisher  himself,  but  still  more  so  for 
his  children,  some  of  whom  will  probably  emigrate.  When 
one  sees  how  fatal  is  the  ignorance  of  French  parents  to  any 
distant  enterprise  on  the  part  of  their  children,  how  it  takes 
the  alarm  at  any  sign  of  bold  initiative,  and  with  what  blind 
confidence  it  accepts  the  proposals  of  certain  exploiters,  and 
when  one  sees,  on  the  other  hand,  working-class  fathers 
like  Brown  and  Fisher  argue  like  sensible  and  well-informed 
men  about  the  best  way  of  settling  in  New  Zealand  or  Penn- 
sylvania, one  is  led  to  the  conclusion  that  the  dissemination  of 
information  by  the  press  may  have  other  results  than  the  mere 
satisfaction  of  idle  curiosity.  For  this  reason  I  have  not 
hesitated  to  note  its  influence  as  next  to  that  of  the  school  in 
this  small  isolated  village,  where  we  might  have  supposed  it  a 
negligeable  quantity. 

The  description  of  Fisher's  home  life  has  led  us  to  examine 
the  daily  life  of  prosperous  miners,  of  those  who,  assured 
hitherto,  through  special  circumstances,  of  regular  work,  and 
knowing  how  to  use  their  resources  well,  have  no  complaints 
to  make  about  their  position.  We  must  now  turn  our  atten- 
tion to  another  side,  and  consider  the  disturbance  caused  in 
mining  centres  by  long  periods  of  interrupted  employment  and 
by  great  strikes.  Such  crises  will  enable  us  to  lay  our  finger 
on  the  special  difficulty  presented  in  collieries,  with  their  staff 
of  miners  indissolubly  attached  to  the  mine  on  the  one  hand, 
and  with  their  variable  clientele  on  the  other. 


CHAPTEE    IV 

THE  MINERS'  STRIKE  OF  1893 

THE  year  1893  witnessed  a  miners'  strike  of  exceptional  length 
and  importance.  The  pits  were  idle  for  more  than  thirteen 
weeks,  and  both  masters  and  men  suffered  considerably.  A 
large  number  of  industries  were  very  seriously  affected  by  the 
coal  famine,  and  several  factories  had  to  be  closed.  Even  the 
railway  service  was  threatened,  and  the  effects  of  the  strike 
were  felt  in  all  directions.  In  some  cases  acts  of  violence 
were  committed  which  left  a  stain  on  the  character  of  the 
British  working  classes.  Public  safety  was  endangered,  and 
revolutionary  sentiments  were  in  the  air.  The  great  strike  of 
Lancashire  textile  operatives  a  few  months  before  had  preserved 
the  respectable  and  dignified  character  of  a  dispute  between 
reasonable  persons.  The  miners'  strike  did  not  everywhere  do 
so,  and  it  had  a  much  greater  effect  upon  the  labour  world. 

We  are  not  concerned  here  with  the  effect  of  the  strike 
upon  industry,  but  with  the  nature  of  the  struggle  and  the 
different  features  which  it  presented  in  different  mining 
districts.  This  will  enable  us  to  appreciate  the  disturbance  it 
wrought  in  the  milieu  we  have  been  describing. 

Let  me  refer  once  more  to  a  circumstance  with  which  our 
readers  are  already  familiar,  which  intensifies  the  consequences 
of  such  a  crisis  in  no  small  degree.  I  allude  to  the  indissoluble 
tie  which  binds  the  collier  to  his  trade,  and  in  many  cases  to 
a  particular  colliery.  Wherever  a  pit  is  isolated  it  is  the 
collier's  only  resource,  and  when  it  fails  him  he  has  no  other. 
Fisher  was  glad  to  work  on  a  farm  in  Ohio  for  SI  a  day 
during  a  period  of  depression,  but  at  Rosewell  even  this 


CHAP,  iv          THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  IN  MINES  201 

modest  wage  would  not  be  forthcoming,  for  the  agricultural 
labourer  is  less  nomadic  in  Scotland  than  in  the  United  States. 
Recently  150  French  miners  at  Graissesac,  on  being  dismissed 
by  the  Colliery  Company,  appealed  to  the  Government,  and  the 
Minister  of  Public  Works  offered  to  find  them  employment  on 
a  line  in  course  of  construction.  The  representatives  of  the 
men  rejected  the  offer  with  indignation,  and  a  resolution  to  the 
following  effect  was  unanimously  carried :  "  By  the  nature  of 
our  work  we  were  attached  to  the  soil  of  Graissesac,  where  we 
had  almost  taken  root.  We  were  a  settled  people,  and  now 
we  are  to  be  condemned  to  a  wandering  life  by  the  abrupt 
suppression,  without  any  legitimate  cause,  of  rights  we  had 
acquired,  and  which  appeared  to  us  indefeasible."  l  Here  we 
encounter  the  same  obstacle,  and  miners'  strikes  cannot  be 
settled,  as  is  done  in  some  industries,  by  the  departure  of  the 
malcontents.  Nor  is  it  easy  for  a  colliery  owner  to  replace 
them,  for  the  only  colliers  in  the  neighbourhood  are  his  own 
disaffected  men.  Other  disputes  may  be  settled  by  separating 
the  parties  at  variance,  but  here  it  is  well-nigh  impracticable. 
In  addition  to  this  general  difficulty,  which  is  common  to 
all  miners'  strikes,  there  are  particular  developments  depending 
upon  the  social  condition  of  the  population  affected,  and  more 
especially  upon  its  capacity  for  organisation.  Finally,  the 
success  or  failure  of  a  strike  depends  not  merely  on  the  organ- 
isation of  the  strikers,  but  also  on  the  practicability  of  their 
demands.  In  support  of  this  we  will  take  a  rapid  glance  at 
the  leading  incidents  of  the  great  strike  of  1893. 

I.  Special  Character  of  the  Strike  in  the  different  Mining 
Districts. 

It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  the  mining  districts 
may  be  grouped  into  four — the  Scottish  coal-field,  the  North- 
umberland and  Durham  coal-field,  the  Midland  coal-field,  and 
the  South  Wales  coal-field.  These  districts  were  not  all 
equally  involved  in  the  strike.  In  Scotland  the  crisis  lasted 
only  a  few  days,  and  everything  was  quiet  when  I  was  at 
Rosewell  in  September  1893.  It  is  true  that  at  a  later  date 
the  influence  of  the  events  which  had  taken  place  in  the 

-  -     T  Report  of  the  meeting  held  at  Graissesac,  10th  July  1894. 


202  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

Midlands  and  South  Wales  made  itself  felt  in  Scotland  in  a 
rather  remarkable  way.  During  the  English  strike  the  Scottish 
miners  received  higher  wages,  but  when  work  was  resumed  in 
the  English  pits,  and  the  price  of  coal  fell  to  the  normal 
level,  there  was  a  corresponding  fall  in  wages  in  Scotland. 
This  led  to  the  Scottish  strike  of  1894. 

Various  causes  combined  to  keep  the  Scottish  miners  out- 
side the  general  movement  of  1893.  In  the  first  place,  as  I 
have  already  said,  they  suffered  less  from  irregularity  of  em- 
ployment; and  in  the  second  place  they  were  not  so  well 
organised.  The  orders  issued  by  the  English  Unions  could 
not  be  carried  out  to  the  letter  and  in  concert,  nor  were  the 
Scottish  Unions  strong  enough  to  bear  a  prolonged  strike. 
They  are  not  rich,  for  their  membership  is  not  large  and  the 
contributions  are  low.  While  a  miner  in  the  Midlands  con- 
tributes 4d.  a  week  regularly,  and  will  make  special  efforts 
from  time  to  time  to  support  a  strike  in  some  other  district, 
Fisher  only  pays  Id.  towards  the  funds  of  his  Union.  In 
reply  to  my  questions  he  told  me  that  the  contribution  was 
at  one  time  3d.  a  week,  but  seeing  that  it  would  be  impossible 
to  accumulate  a  strike  fund  large  enough  to  permit  of  a  pro- 
tracted struggle,  they  took  the  desperate  resolution  of  reducing 
the  sum  to  Id.  a  week.  The  circumstance  which  led  them 
to  this  decision  was  the  insufficient  number  of  adherents.  To 
accumulate  a  fund  of  any  size  the  numbers  must  be  large, 
since  contributions  are  necessarily  small,  and  the  whole  body  of 
workers  must  understand  that  it  is  to  their  interest  to 
combine. 

Now,  the  composition  of  this  body  of  workers  is  far  from 
homogeneous.  In  Ayrshire,  in  particular,  there  is  a  large  per- 
centage of  Irish  even  among  the  underground  miners,  a 
circumstance  due  to  the  proximity  of  Ireland.  The  Irish  are 
also  numerous  round  Glasgow,  and  even  in  the  Lothians 
we  found  that  25  per  cent  of  the  population  were  of  the 
same  origin.  The  Celtic  Highland  element  is  also  largely 
represented,  and  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  it  is  readily 
modified  by  contact  with  the  more  active  Lowland  environ- 
ment, it  does  not  readily  lend  itself  to  the  complicated  organ- 
isation of  Trade  Unionism.  The  Highlander  only  acquires 
the  qualities  of  the  Lowland  Scot  after  prolonged  intercourse 


CHAP,  iv  IN  MINES  203 

with  his  Saxon  neighbour.  I  have  frequently  been  told  by 
Irishmen  that  they  belonged  to  no  Friendly,  Insurance,  or 
Co-operative  Society,  and  the  English  and  Scots  are  unanimous 
in  asserting  that  an  Irishman  lives  from  day  to  day,  and  never 
sees  beyond  his  immediate  needs.  A  Eoman  Catholic  lady 
living  near  Eosewell,  who  was  very  willing  to  render  full 
justice  to  her  co-religionists,  gave  them  the  following  character  : 
"  Many  of  them  do  not  drink,  and  are  estimable,  steady,  moral 
people,  but  they  have  no  wish  to  raise  themselves,  and  are  not 
on  the  look-out  for  a  chance.  If  they  have  enough  to  eat,  it 
is  all  they  want.  They  get  very  little  good  out  of  what  they 
earn,  and  if  they  ever  happen  to  save,  they  save  coins.  The 
idea  of  putting  their  money  in  a  Savings  Bank  or  of  taking 
shares  in  some  of  those  Co-operative  or  Building  Societies 
which  offer  safe  and  advantageous  investments  to  working 
men,  never  occurs  to  them.  The  Irishman,  too,  is  generally 
mistrustful,  and  does  not  care  to  talk  about  his  affairs — a  result, 
perhaps,  of  long  oppression,  which  has  taught  him  something 
more  than  reserve.  You  may  have  noticed  a  man  digging  in 
my  garden  last  Saturday.  He  is  an  Irishman  employed  at 
White  Hill  Colliery,  and  he  works  here  on  Saturday  to  add  a 
little  to  his  wages.  I  am  sure  if  you  had  tried  to  question 
him  you  would  have  got  nothing  out  of  him,  while  Fisher 
received  you  cordially  and  gave  you  every  assistance." 

Where  forethought  is  so  little  developed,  the  prospect  of 
a  remote  advantage  is  not  sufficient  to  induce  men  to  burden 
themselves  with  a  weekly  contribution.  At  the  same  time 
their  dislike  to  publicity  where  their  personal  affairs  are  con- 
cerned makes  them  reluctant  to  join  any  society  which  not 
merely  agitates  for  higher  wages  and  shorter  hours  of  labour, 
but  also  investigates  the  condition  of  its  members,  and  the 
results  produced  by  a  given  crisis,  a  given  reduction  in  the 
hours  of  labour,  etc. 

Consequently  a  fair  percentage  of  Scottish  miners  hold 
aloof  from  the  Trade  Union  movement  either  from  inaptitude 
for  combining  except  for  short  periods,  or  else  from  a  feeling 
of  distrust. 

Another  circumstance  which  prevents  the  Lowland  miner 
from  clinging  to  his  Union  as  tenaciously  as  the  Midland  miner 
does  is  that  he  is  more  ready  to  emigrate.  Fisher  is  much 


204  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

more  disposed  to  seek  a  solution  for  himself  by  settling  in 
America  than  to  look  to  the  Lothian  Miners'  Union  for  a 
solution.  It  is  true  that  he  sees  no  future  for  himself  in  the 
New  World,  but  he  seeks  one  there  for  his  children.  As  a 
general  rule  the  Lowland  Scot  is  ready  to  go  to  any  point  on 
the  habitable  globe  where  he  hopes  to  find  a  better  field  for 
his  energy.  As  his  own  country  offers  fewer  openings  than 
England  he  is  obliged  to  go  further  afield,  and  necessity 
has  begotten  a  national  habit.  This  deprives  the  Trade 
Union  movement  in  Scotland  of  an  enormous  number  of 
ordinary  men  who  would  give  it  the  power  of  numbers,  and  of 
many  exceptional  men  capable  of  impressing  their  personality 
upon  it. 

It  was  but  natural,  therefore,  that  the  Miners'  Federation 
of  Great  Britain  which  organised  the  great  strike  of  1893  met 
with  only  lukewarm  sympathy.  The  Scottish  miners  professed 
their  willingness  to  join  their  comrades,  but  a  rise  in  their 
wages  was  enough  to  detach  them  from  their  loose  allegiance. 
They  were  not  sufficiently  well  disciplined  to  espouse  their 
comrades'  quarrel  from  a  feeling  of  solidarity. 

The  miners  of  Northumberland  and  Durham,  on  the  other 
hand,  had  no  lack  of  discipline,  but  they  were  accustomed  to 
fighting  successfully  for  their  own  local  interests,  and  did  not 
care  to  compromise  them  in  a  general  struggle.  Their  policy 
is  essentially  individualistic.  On  the  eight  hours  question  they 
have  always  been  strongly  in  favour  of  voluntary  action,  and 
opposed  to  any  legislative  restriction  of  the  hours  of  labour, 
remaining  faithful  to  the  old  Saxon  tradition  of  self-help. 
They  had  the  necessary  organisation  for  concerted  action,  but 
their  willingness  was  more  equivocal. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  urged  that  it  was  their  duty  so  to  act, 
for  the  Northumberland  and  Durham  Miners'  Unions  had 
recently  been  affiliated  to  the  Federation,  and  according  to 
article  20  of  the  Federation  rules  all  federated  unions  must 
immediately  strike  work  when  notice  is  given.  But  the 
Unions  had  not  abrogated  their  own  rules  on  joining  the  Federa- 
tion, and  by  these  rules  a  strike  could  not  be  declared  unless 
two-thirds  of  the  members  had  previously  voted  in  favour  of 
suspending  work.  There  is  nothing  surprising  in  this  flagrant 
contradiction  if  we  recall  the  circumstances  under  which  the 


CHAP,  iv  IN  MINES  205 

Unions  joined  the  Federation.  It  was  just  after  the  great 
Durham  strike,  in  which  the  strikers  had  been  generously 
helped  by  the  Federation,  and  in  a  burst  of  gratitude  they 
voted  for  affiliation.  The  Federation,  delighted  with  a  result 
which  it  had  not  improbably  sought,  was  disinclined  to  point 
out  the  incompatibility  of  the  two  sets  of  rules,  and  eagerly 
opened  its  ranks  to  this  important  accession,  preferring  their 
sympathy  without  complete  solidarity  to  being  completely 
sundered.  Nevertheless,  the  Federation  failed  to  achieve  its 
principal  object.  It  resembles  a  syndicate  of  monopolists,  but 
instead  of  making  a  corner  in  wheat,  or  sugar,  or  petroleum, 
or  copper,  it  makes  a  corner  of  working  colliers  with  the  same 
object  of  sending  up  the  price.  Its  object  is  to  create  a  dearth 
of  labour  and  consequently  a  dearth  of  coal,  and  thus  to  put 
employers  and  consumers  at  the  mercy  of  the  Federation. 
To  this  end  it  is  necessary  to  act  suddenly  and  in  concert, 
and  this  is  the  object  of  the  famous  article  20  of  the  rules  of 
the  Federation. 

Now  when,  in  accordance  with  this  article,  the  Durham 
and  Northumberland  Unions  received  notice  to  strike  against 
a  reduction  of  25  per  cent  on  wages,  they  took  a  vote  in 
accordance  with  the  rules  of  their  own  Unions,  and  as  they 
did  not  get  the  necessary  majority  of  two-thirds,  work  was  not 
suspended  in  the  pits  of  the  district. 

There  remained  Wales  and  the  Midlands,  which  together 
formed  more  than  two -thirds  of  the  mining  population  of 
Great  Britain.  Both  took  an  active  part  in  the  strike,  but 
the  development  was  very  different  in  the  two  cases. 

The  Welsh  population  is  of  Celtic  origin,  and  far  less 
capable,  as  a  whole,  than  the  Saxon  population  of  the  Midlands. 
At  the  same  time  it  is  more  impressionable,  that  is  to  say,  less 
capable  of  self-control,  and  very  much  less  advanced  in  the 
organisation  of  labour.  Although  there  are  Welsh  miners' 
Unions,  yet  they  cannot  be  taken  as  a  satisfactory  representa- 
tion of  the  interests  of  the  Welsh  miners.  The  miner  has 
not  the  same  confidence  in  his  Union  as  the  Midland  Counties 
miner  has;  he  distrusts  the  results  of  the  ballots  taken  to 
decide  the  question  of  a  strike,  and  regards  the  Unionist  leaders 
as  exploiting  rather  than  as  representing  him.  At  the  same 
time  he  fears  their  power,  and  as  long  as  their  tyranny  is 


206  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

endurable  he  offers  no  resistance,  but  allows  it  to  grow  until 
it  becomes  intolerable  and  he  is  obliged  to  make  a  violent 
stand  against  it. 

This  is  clearly  seen  in  the  strike  of  1893  in  Wales.  At 
the  beginning  the  strikers  counted  little  on  the  Welsh  men 
for  the  success  of  the  strike.  The  North  Wales  miners,  who 
were  affiliated  to  the  Federation,  were  not  rich ;  the  South 
Wales  men,  who  were  not  affiliated,  had  for  some  time  back 
accepted  a  sliding  scale.  Their  wages  rose  or  fell  with  the 
price  of  coal,  which  would  seem  to  leave  no  room  for  dispute. 
In  July  there  was  some  little  agitation,  which  was  calmed  by 
modifying  the  sliding  scale  so  as  to  give  an  advance  of  1^-  per 
cent.  The  masters  believed  everything  was  quiet,  when  a  new 
complication  occurred. 

In  August  there  was  considerable  dissatisfaction  among 
the  hauliers,  who  were  usually  quiet,  and  content  to  take  a 
subordinate  place  and  follow  the  lead  of  the  colliers.  For 
some  reason  not  clearly  understood,  they  demanded  an  advance 
of  20  per  cent,  and  when  this  was  refused  they  went  out  on 
strike.  This  disorganised  a  certain  number  of  collieries,  and  a 
number  of  colliers  were  thrown  out  of  work.  By  the  middle 
of  August,  50,000  men  had  stopped  work  in  Wales.  Many 
of  them  had  brought  out  their  tools  reluctantly,  cursing  a 
state  of  things  which  deprived  them  of  their  living,  and  from 
which  no  appreciable  advantage  could  accrue  to  them  in  the 
future.  They  had  not  struck  deliberately,  willing  to  engage 
in  a  struggle  which,  though  hard,  might  yet  result  in  a  victory 
to  their  own  advantage,  but  they  were  the  victims  of  the 
decision  of  mere  unskilled  labourers,  arrived  at  without  any 
previous  concert.  A  certain  number  caught  the  excitement 
and  backed  up  the  strikers,  and  war  was  declared  between  the 
more  prudent,  who  feared  starvation  and  were  willing  to 
resume  work,  and  the  more  hot-headed,  who  were  for  continu- 
ing the  strike.  Everything  was  ripe  for  scenes  of  violence. 

It  was  not  long  before  they  broke  out.  A  great  meeting 
of  10,000  strikers  in  the  Ebbw  Valley,  near  Cardiff,  was 
attacked  on  18th  August  by  the  non- strikers  and  men 
belonging  to  other  bodies.  The  meeting  was  dispersed,  and 
several  were  wounded  on  both  sides.  At  Dowlais  the  strikers 
attacked  the  non-strikers  with  stones.  The  latter  closed  up, 


CHAP,  iv  IN  MINES  207 

and  with  the  assistance  of  the  blacksmiths  they  inflicted  an 
exemplary  correction  upon  their  assailants.  In  several  dis- 
tricts a  sort  of  local  militia  was  organised.  Butchers,  grocers, 
and  bakers,  mounted  on  the  horses  which  usually  did  their 
rounds,  reconnoitred  the  country  and  signalled  the  enemy's 
presence.  It  was  a  civil  war  on  a  small  scale. 

In  the  face  of  such  a  situation  the  local  police  and  the 
government  were  obliged  to  take  action.  A  band  of  2000 
miners  who  were  threatening  Swansea  was  vigorously  repulsed. 
Troops  were  despatched  to  Pontypridd,  where  several  riots  had 
occurred,  and  although  they  had  received  orders  to  keep  out 
of  sight  except  in  case  of  absolute  necessity,  they  had  to  inter- 
vene on  various  occasions.  To  form  an  idea  of  the  firm  and 
moderate  attitude  of  the  government,  Mr.  Asquith's  letter  to 
the  municipality  of  Pontypridd  should  be  read.  It  shows  that 
the  presence  of  troops  in  the  district  was  not  intended  as  a  pro- 
vocation, and  in  no  way  interfered  with  peaceable  manifestations. 
In  this  letter  Mr.  Asquith  pointed  out  that  troops  had  no 
authority  to  disperse  a  band  of  strikers  whose  destination  was 
unknown  so  long  as  they  abstained  from  acts  contrary  to  the 
law  or  dangerous  to  the  public  peace.  If,  however,  the  strikers 
were  a  legitimate  source  of  terror  to  a  neighbourhood,  or  if 
they  committed  acts  contrary  to  the  law,  or  collected  for  that 
purpose,  the  authorities  were  justified  in  regarding  this  as  a 
case  of  necessity,  and  it  became  their  duty  to  disperse  the 
gathering,  unless  circumstances  rendered  this  impossible,  or 
unless  such  a  course  would  lead  to  still  greater  difficulties. 

With  an  armed  force  under  orders  to  act  only  in  case  of 
recognised  necessity,  in  a  country  where  the  intervention  of 
the  Government  is  rarely  asked,  difficult  to  obtain,  and  exercised 
with  discretion,  conflicts  between  the  strikers  and  troops  are 
due  entirely  to  the  former,  and  the  entire  responsibility  should 
rest  with  them.  It  is  only  where  the  workers  are  unable, 
through  deficient  organisation,  to  secure  the  representation  of 
their  interests  in  a  peaceful  and  normal  way  that  troubles  of 
this  kind  occur.  In  the  strike  of  1893  it  was  in  Wales,  where 
the  miners'  Unions  have  least  hold  on  the  men,  that  these 
sanguinary  and  brutal  riots  occurred.  In  Scotland  the  miners' 
Unions  are  neither  numerous,  rich,  nor  powerful,  and  yet  they 
do  not  cause  any  trouble.  In  Wales  they  have  a  respectable 


2o8  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

number  of  members,  but  the  men  are  not  loyal,  and  though 
they  may  occasionally  attach  themselves  to  a  leader,  they  are 
ready  to  desert  him  on  the  first  opportunity.  Thus  they 
labour  under  the  double  disadvantage  of  being  outwardly 
strong,  which  makes  them  rash,  and  weak  in  reality,  which 
urges  them  to  violence. 

In  the  Midlands,  on  the  other  hand,  we  are  dealing  with  a 
really  powerful  organisation.  The  Unions  are  supported  by 
ample  contributions  from  a  large  membership,  and  they  have 
amassed  a  large  strike  fund.  Two  months  before  the  crisis 
the  secretary  of  the  Midland  Federation  put  the  resources  of 
the  Association  at  £480,000.  When  I  asked  him  for  what 
use  this  sum  was  destined,  he  said  quite  frankly  and  without 
embarrassment  that  it  was  for  a  strike  when  the  right  time 
came.  The  Midland  miners  are  business  men  who  know  the 
value  of  capital  and  secure  this  essential  beforehand.  They 
formed  the  nucleus  of  the  National  Federation,  and  have  been 
the  most  successful  in  organising  resistance  in  a  body.  A 
coalition  policy  suits  their  private  interests  best,  and  therefore 
they  endeavour  to  secure  its  adoption  in  all  the  miners'  Unions 
of  Great  Britain.  I  have  already  pointed  out  that  the  Mid- 
lands rely  on  the  home  markets,  and  consequently  producers 
and  consumers  affect  each  other  directly.  When  consumption 
falls  off,  the  miners  suffer  from  irregularity  of  employment, 
and  the  consumers  experience  a  coal  famine  when  the  miners 
stop  work.  If  the  extraction  of  coal  ceases  in  the  Midlands, 
the  factories  of  Lancashire,  Yorkshire,  Staffordshire,  Birming- 
ham, and  the  surrounding  district  are  brought  to  a  standstill, 
and  if  it  were  suspended  throughout  England,  the  effect  would 
be  still  more  prompt  and  intense.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
Scotland  or  Northumberland  ceased  to  export  coal  to  a  foreign 
market,  there  would  be  a  temporary  difficulty,  and  then  coal 
would  be  obtained  from  Germany  or  Belgium  or  France. 
Whenever  coal  is  imported  there  is  a  choice  between  several 
exporting  countries.  It  would,  therefore,  be  bad  policy  for  the 
Durham  and  Northumberland  miners  to  create  a  coal  famine 
in  their  foreign  markets,  although  such  a  course  might  be 
advantageous  to  the  interests  of  the  Midlands. 

I  should  not  be  surprised  if  the  individualistic  policy  of 
the  Northumberland  and  Durham  miners  were  largely  due  to 


CHAP,  iv  IN  MINES  209 

this  circumstance.  Their  problems  are  different  from  those  of 
the  Midland  Counties ;  they  are  not  thrown  out  of  work  in 
summer,  and  are  less  dependent  on  a  given  market,  and  as 
they  feel  themselves  strong  enough  to  manage  their  own 
affairs,  they  are  little  concerned  with  concerted  action.  The 
Midlands,  however,  need  concerted  action  because  their  Unions 
aim  at  a  monopoly,  and  although  the  interests  of  the  Durham 
and  Northumberland  men  differ  from  their  own  they  are 
ready  to  support  and  encourage  them  in  striking,  whatever 
their  reason  may  be,  and  are  eager  to  win  their  sympathy 
and  to  affirm  the  solidarity  of  all  miners'  Unions,  because  this 
is  the  only  way  to  create  a  monopoly  of  labour  on  the  day  of 
the  great  general  strike.  This  is  why  the  Midland  Counties' 
Unions  are  the  bulwark  of  the  National  Federation,  and  why 
the  Federation  grew  out  of  their  organisation. 

Thus  the  Midlands  are  impelled  to  solidarity  by  reasons 
analogous  to  those  which  make  the  Durham  and  Northumber- 
land men  individualists.  The  workmen  are  in  both  cases 
equally  capable  of  organisation,  and  therefore  the  difference  of 
policy  is  very  striking.  At  first  sight  it  is  strange  to  see 
Englishmen  resorting  to  a  discipline  of  almost  military  severity 
in  strong  contrast  with  their  passion  for  individual  liberty. 
In  the  case  of  the  Midland  miners,  however,  it  is  adopted  to 
meet  an  emergency  which  calls  for  united  action,  and  not  from 
inability  to  act  alone.  Self-help,  therefore,  may  take  different 
forms  and  does  not  preclude  associated  action.  But  union  is 
strength  only  when  the  individual  members  are  efficient. 

In  the  Midlands  individual  efficiency  is  not  lacking.  It  is 
clearly  seen  in  the  good  order  which  characterises  the  delibera- 
tions of  the  miners'  meetings  in  the  Midland  Counties,  in  their 
consistent  policy,  and  especially  in  the  leaders  they  choose.  I 
was  fortunate  enough  to  converse  for  some  hours  with  Mr. 
Albert  Stanley,  the  secretary  of  the  Midland  Federation,  and 
the  impression  which  I  carried  away  threw  considerable  light 
on  the  information  I  had  obtained  from  him.  He  is  in  no 
sense  a  revolutionary,  but  a  young,  active  and  intelligent  man, 
who  is  eager  to  rise,  and  is  capable  of  doing  so  by  the  means 
which  the  existing  condition  of  society  puts  at  his  disposal. 
He  is  delighted  at  the  material,  intellectual  and  moral  ameliora- 
tion produced  among  the  miners  of  his  district  by  shorter 

P 


210  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

hours  of  labour,  better  housing,  the  foundation  of  more  public 
libraries,  and  more  regular  attendance  at  religious  worship. 
His  sympathies  are  strongly  appealed  to  by  everything  which 
tends  to  raise  the  worker,  to  make  a  better  man  of  him,  and 
to  give  him  a  better  chance  in  life.  He  is  anxious  to  free  him 
more  and  more  from  unremitting,  exhausting  toil,  and  to  give 
him  leisure,  not  merely  for  the  sake  of  the  amusements  which  it 
would  render  possible,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  rest.  Evidently 
he  has  a  true  conception  of  the  real  end  of  social  progress. 

In  the  pursuit  of  this  end  he  is  not  hindered  by  certain 
prejudices  which,  on  the  Continent,  often  keep  back  workers 
who  are  sincerely  desirous  of  a  better  state  of  things.  He 
has  no  hostility  to  religion,  and  was  astonished  and  shocked 
by  the  anti-clerical  proposals  of  Basly  and  Lamendin  at  the 
Brussels  Congress.  He  had  just  returned  from  this  Congress, 
and  could  not  understand  how  any  one  could  deny  the  moral- 
ising influence  of  Christianity.  He  sees  no  reason  to  be 
terrified  by  the  bogey  of  clerical  ascendency,  because  it  corre- 
sponds to  nothing  in  his  experience,  and  because  he  knows  that 
if  a  man  allows  himself  to  be  reduced  to  submission,  his  own 
attitude  is  to  blame.  He  is  glad  to  have  a  chance  of 
associating  with  men  of  superior  education  in  order  to  supply 
his  own  deficiencies,  and  he  is  no  more  hostile  to  the  middle 
class  than  to  the  clergy.  This  wide  sympathy  and  absence  of 
prejudice  is  due  to  his  consciousness  of  strength.  Labour 
associations  in  England  have  now  reached  a  point  where  it  is 
clear  that  they  and  they  alone  have  the  control  of  their  own 
interests.  They  are  definitely  emancipated,  and  quite  capable  of 
defending  their  own  interests  and  securing  a  proper  life.  Why 
then  should  the  fear  of  oppression  deprive  them  of  useful  allies, 
who  have  it  in  their  power  to  render  great  services  without  being 
able  to  encroach  upon  their  province  ?  Here  as  elsewhere  the 
strong  can  associate  with  the  strong  without  danger.  It  is  only 
the  weak  who  seek  security  in  isolation  and  hatred,  and  directly 
this  attitude  becomes  impossible  they  have  to  cry  for  quarter. 

To  be  strong,  an  association  must  not  merely  represent 
powerful  interests,  but  must  also  know  how  to  organise  the 
representation  of  these  interests.  Wherever  there  are  mines 
and  factories,  labour  associations  correspond  to  necessities  of 
the  same  kind  and  importance,  but  they  do  not  by  any  means 


CHAP,  iv  IN  MINES  211 

enjoy  the  same  degree  of  credit.  There  is  an  obvious  differ- 
ence between  the  miners'  Unions  in  Wales  and  in  the  Midlands. 
The  latter  have  solved  the  problem  of  internal  government  by 
selecting  their  best  men  as  leaders.  Mr.  Pickard,  president  of 
the  National  Federation,  and  Mr.  Burt,  formerly  Parliamentary 
secretary  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  have  entered  Parliament  with- 
out appearing  out  of  place.  Mr.  John  Wilson  and  Mr.  Fenwick, 
representing  Durham  and  Northumberland  miners,  have  done 
the  same.  Mr.  Stanley  may  in  his  turn  take  his  seat  in  the 
House  of  Commons  and  win  liking  and  respect.  Obviously 
the  miners'  Unions  in  these  districts  are  capable  of  selecting 
their  fittest  members,  or,  in  other  words,  of  securing  repre- 
sentation and  self-government. 

In  France  there  has  been  much  discussion  as  to  whether 
the  law  dealing  with  syndicates  should  admit  into  labour 
associations  members  not  belonging  to  the  trade,  members  who 
have  left  the  trade,  or  members  still  working  at  the  trade. 
The  question  was  opened  in  consequence  of  very  real  abuses, 
and  because  the  labour  associations  were  liable  to  fall  under 
the  tyranny  of  public  agitators  and  professional  politicians. 
The  Trade  Unions  Act  of  1871  was  not  called  upon  to  deal 
with  these  questions  of  internal  order,  because  the  English 
Unions  had  settled  them  before  they  were  definitely  recognised 
by  law.  Whenever  we  insist  upon  a  legal  qualification,  we 
encounter  many  difficulties  and  are  in  danger  in  some  cases  of 
interfering  with  the  representation  of  the  interests  of  labour. 
In  particular,  it  seems  impossible  to  insist  that  the  officials  of 
a  powerful  organisation  must  actually  be  exercising  their  trade. 
In  the  first  place,  their  qualification  would  be  at  the  mercy  of 
their  employer ;  and  in  the  second  place,  a  man  who  works  ten 
hours  a  day  in  the  pit  can  hardly  conduct  the  correspondence, 
keep  the  accounts,  and  undertake  the  necessary  inquiries. 

If  an  ex-miner  is  qualified  as  a  miners'  representative, 
what  term  of  service  are  we  to  fix  ?  Would  a  man  of  forty 
who  had  loaded  coal-trucks  as  a  boy  come  under  the  definition 
of  an  ex-miner  ?  If,  on  the  other  hand,  a  minimum  term  of 
service  is  fixed,  say  at  two,  three,  or  ten  years,  this  puts  the 
younger  men  at  a  disadvantage.  And  to  what  tribunal  shall 
we  entrust  the  settlement  of  these  delicate  and  complicated 
questions,  which  'no  general  formula  can  settle  in  a  manner 


212  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

which  will  be  universally  satisfactory  in  practice  ?  To  a  set 
of  politicians  ignorant  as  a  rule  of  what  happens  in  mines,  and 
very  unfavourably  placed  for  obtaining  information  between 
those  who  are  anxious  to  strangle  the  representation  of  labour 
and  a  few  labour  members  who  are  incapable  of  organising  it. 
Mr.  Stanley  worked  for  twelve  years  in  the  mines,  and  now 
he  is  directing  a  very  complicated  organisation,  presiding  at 
meetings,  making  investigations,  attending  congresses,  and 
spending  his  leisure  moments  in  libraries,  and  is  evidently  no 
longer  a  mere  workman.  Would  it  be  reasonable  to  refuse  to 
the  miner  who  has  undergone  such  a  transformation  the  right 
to  belong  to  the  organisation  he  is  qualified  to  direct  ? 

Legislative  regulation  would  present  fewest  difficulties 
perhaps  in  the  case  of  a  miner,  who  rarely  forsakes  his  trade 
and  adopts  it  for  life  in  early  youth.  But  what  about  the  case 
of  dockers  ?  Here  the  question  becomes  extremely  difficult 
and  delicate.  It  came  up  at  the  Trade  Unions  Congress  of 
1893,  in  connection  with  Mr.  MacHugh,  the  secretary  of  the 
National  Dockers'  Union  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  The 
Congress  was  asked  to  consider  whether  he  was  properly 
qualified  to  act  as  delegate,  and  it  was  stated  that  he  had 
served  his  apprenticeship  as  a  printer,  and  had  followed  the 
trade,  but  that  thirty  years  before,  when  he  was  fifteen  or 
sixteen,  he  had  worked  for  a  month  in  Glasgow  docks.  After 
a  hot  discussion,  the  Congress  disallowed  the  qualification,  and 
on  Thursday,  7th  September,  he  was  expelled  from  the  Con- 
gress. On  the  following  day  his  supporters,  headed  by  Mr.  J. 
H.  "Wilson,  called  attention  to  his  valuable  services  to  Trade 
Unionism,  and  laid  stress  on  the  fact  that,  having  been  elected 
by  the  dockers,  he  was  really  their  representative.  A  majority 
of  the  Congress  reversed  the  decision  of  the  preceding  day,  and 
Mr.  MacHugh  resumed  his  place.  This  incident  shows  the 
difficulty  felt  by  experts  in  deciding  in  a  concrete  case  upon 
the  qualifications  of  a  labour  delegate.  How  is  a  legislative 
body  which  is  ignorant  of  the  matter  in  question,  and  con- 
cerned with  abstractions  and  hypotheses,  to  make  a  hard  and 
fast  rule  which  will  meet  every  case  ? 

On  the  other  hand,  how  can  labour  be  guaranteed  honest 
and  trustworthy  representation  so  long  as  the  men  allow 
themselves  to  be  guided  by  agitators  ?  It  is  obviously  im- 


CHAP,  iv  IN  MINES  213 

possible,  and  yet  unless  labour  can  secure  itself  fit  repre- 
sentatives it  will  be  exploited.  It  is  useless  to  point  out  that 
it  is  the  workers  themselves  who  suffer  most  by  failure  in  this 
matter.  The  middle  class  may  be  inconvenienced  when  an 
agitator  provokes  a  desperate  struggle,  but  it  is  the  workers 
themselves  who  feel  the  pangs  of  hunger  and  hear  their  wives 
and  children  crying  for  bread.  Nothing  can  supply  the  place 
of  capability  in  the  workers  themselves,  and  the  only  method, 
slow,  indirect,  but  efficacious,  is  to  help  them  to  become  capable, 
to  teach  them,  improve  them,  enlighten  them,  educate  them, 
and  above  all,  to  abstain  from  hindering  their  organisation. 

In  England,  and  especially  in  the  Midlands,  one  part  of 
the  question  is  solved  so  far  as  mines  are  concerned.  The 
miners  of  the  Midlands  are  well  represented  and  organised,  but 
the  history  of  the  strike  of  1893  showed  clearly  that  this  was 
not  sufficient  for  success,  and  the  powerful  discipline  of  the 
Federation  was  shattered  by  a  superior  force,  the  force  of 
circumstances. 

II.   The  Force  of  Discipline  and  the  Force  of  Circumstances. 

Let  us  now  return  to  the  original  cause  of  the  strike.  Since 
1888  the  miners  belonging  to  the  Federation  had  received  a 
gradual  increase  in  wages  amounting  to  40  per  cent.  In 
1893,  owing  to  depression  in  the  coal  trade,  the  masters 
announced  that  they  could  no  longer  afford  so  high  a  rate  of 
wages,  and  that  there  would  be  a  reduction  of  25  per  cent,  to 
come  into  operation  on  28th  July.  Eather  than  submit  to 
this  reduction,  the  men  brought  out  their  tools  and  left  work. 

The  real  question,  therefore,  which  was  at  the  bottom  of  the 
whole  dispute,  was  whether  the  masters  could  or  could  not 
afford  to  pay  the  same  rate  of  wages  in  spite  of  the  low  price 
of  coal.  A  master  cannot  afford  to  work  at  a  loss,  nor  can  he 
close  the  pits  without  loss.  Consequently,  when  the  men 
refuse  to  agree  to  a  reduction,  the  master  is  forced  to  weigh 
both  sides  minutely,  and  to  concede  whatever  he  finds  within 
the  bounds  of  possibility.  As  Fisher  put  it  to  me  one  day,  a 
strike  does  no  one  any  good  but  it  teaches  the  employer  a 
lesson.  It  forces  him  to  reflect,  and  to  look  into  the  position, 
and  to  name  the  maximum  wage  he  can  afford  to  give,  which 


214  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

is  reached  when  any  further  concession  would  make  the  scale 
sink  on  the  losing  side.  After  this  the  insistence  of  the  men 
is  unavailing.  Their  policy  is  not  to  be  continually  making 
fresh  demands  in  a  more  and  more  imperious  tone,  but  to  con- 
sider what  concessions  a  master  would  be  prepared  to  grant 
rather  than  close  his  pits,  and  then  to  extort  these  concessions 
by  stopping  the  production  of  coal  until  they  are  granted. 

The  first  essential  of  success  in  such  an  attempt  is  proper 
organisation,  and  the  second  is  to  demand  only  what  is  reason- 
able and  possible.  At  the  beginning  of  the  present  industrial 
era  the  workers  were  not  organised,  and  were  individually  at 
their  employer's  mercy.  This  taught  them  that  to  have  right 
on  their  side  was  not  enough  to  ensure  success.  When,  after 
great  difficulty,  they  forced  employers  to  respect  their  interests, 
they  at  once  obtained  considerable  advantages.  This  gave 
rise  to  an  interesting  phenomenon.  The  same  men,  justly 
proud  of  their  power  to  defend  their  own  interests,  attributed 
their  success  entirely  to  their  power  of  organisation  and  to  their 
excellent  discipline,  and  imagined  that  henceforth  they  could 
extort  whatever  they  pleased  from  employers,  just  as  employers 
had  thought  that  they  could  extort  whatever  they  pleased  from 
their  men.  Intoxicated  by  their  success,  they  forgot  that  they 
had  obtained  the  concessions  so  easily  and  promptly  only 
because  the  employers  could  afford  to  make  them,  and  they 
believed  that  proper  organisation  would  invariably  make  them 
victorious  whether  they  were  in  the  right  or  not.  Such  a  delu- 
sion— a  very  natural  one — still  exists,  and  traces  of  it  may 
continually  be  seen  in  the  attitude  of  certain  labour  leaders,  who 
adopt  the  tone  of  masters  and  seem  to  imagine  that  employers 
cannot  exist  without  their  permission.  Such  a  state  of  mind  is 
far  from  reassuring,  but  if  anything  can  cure  it,  it  will  be  the 
stern  lessons  of  experience.  The  result  of  the  strike  in  question 
has  been  to  force  the  Federation  to  abandon  a  set  of  claims 
directly  traceable  to  this  delusion,  and  to  confine  the  discussion 
within  the  narrow  limits  set  by  the  nature  of  circumstances. 

Of  these  the  most  characteristic,  inasmuch  as  it  best 
illustrates  the  exaggerated  confidence  in  the  power  of  dis- 
cipline and  the  complete  contempt  for  the  force  of  circum- 
stances, is  the  demand  for  a  living  wage.  The  theory  of  the 
living  wage  is  that  prices  must  follow  wages  instead  of  wages 


CHAP,  iv  IN  MINES  21$ 

following  prices.  If  coal  is  too  cheap  to  allow  employers  to 
pay  their  man  a  living  wage,  the  price  of  coal  must  be  raised, 
and  the  labour  associations  will  be  able  to  do  this.  This 
reasoning  is  a  direct  inversion  of  the  real  facts,  and  this  the 
result  of  the  strike  proved. 

We  may  well  ask  how  Englishmen,  with  their  well-known 
common  sense,  came  to  put  forth  a  claim  so  obviously  fanciful 
as  that  of  the  living  wage,  sufficient  to  assure  to  the  worker  a 
certain  standard  of  comfort,  and  serving  to  fix  the  market 
price  of  coal  It  is  one  of  those  aberrations  which  we  can 
only  attribute  to  the  intoxication  of  victory.  If  there  is  one 
thing  in  the  world  which  varies,  it  is  the  sum  which  will 
enable  an  individual  to  provide  for  his  wants.  The  estimate 
will  vary  according  as  living  is  cheap  or  dear  in  a  given  place. 
It  may  be  more  than  trebled  according  as  a  man  is  a  bachelor 
or  the  father  of  a  family.  If  he  is  married,  his  wife  may  be 
either  strong  or  delicate,  and  his  children  may  be  of  age  to 
work  or  entirely  dependent  upon  him,  and  these  circumstances 
give  entirely  different  results.  Then  opinions  differ  widely  as 
to  what  the  standard  of  comfort  is.  At  a  conference  held  on 
29th  November  1893  in  Holborn  Town  Hall,  in  favour  of 
the  organisation  of  industry  on  a  Christian  basis,  the  chairman, 
Mr.  G.  W.  Eussell,  then  Under -Secretary  of  State  for  India, 
defined  the  living  wage  as  that  wage  which  would  ensure  a 
man  a  decent,  moral,  and  healthy  home ;  which  would  suffice 
for  food,  warmth,  and  clothing ;  and  thirdly,  which  would  allow 
him  leisure  to  cultivate  the  intellectual,  moral,  and  spiritual 
parts  of  his  nature.  Such  a  formula  shows  a  very  sympathetic 
attitude  to  the  workers,  but  it  is  not  very  luminous.  It  is 
certainly  to  be  desired  that  the  workers  should  have  a  decent 
material  life,  and  opportunities  for  intellectual  and  moral 
development,  but  what  rate  of  wages  will  secure  this  at  the 
same  time  to  the  unmarried  lad  of  eighteen  and  to  the  father 
of  a  large  family.  However,  the  members  of  the  Conference 
referred  to  carried  a  motion  in  favour  of  fixing  a  minimum 
wage.  Of  course  their  interest  is  not  limited  to  miners  only, 
but  extends  to  all  workers  without  distinction,  whether  small 
artisans  or  factory  hands.  "  Our  aim,"  said  Canon  Scott 
Holland  in  his  speech,  "  is  to  secure  recognition  and  respect  for 
human  personality,  and  to  govern  the  industrial  market" 


216  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

Here  Canon  Scott  Holland  was  right.  To  solve  the  ques- 
tion of  the  living  wage  from  his  point  of  view,  it  would  be 
necessary  to  govern  the  industrial  market  and  to  fix  in  an 
arbitrary  way  the  price  not  only  of  coal,  cloth,  linen,  and  all 
other  industrial  products,  but  also  of  wheat,  butcher's  meat, 
sugar,  petroleum,  etc.,  which  are  all  articles  daily  consumed 
by  the  working  class  at  prices  which  vary  with  the  district 
and  with  the  fluctuations  of  the  market.  Even  if  a  uniform 
rate  were  fixed  in  this  country  for  every  commodity,  whether 
manufactured  or  otherwise,  and  if  the  living  wage  were  fixed 
in  every  industry,  there  would  still  be  the  question  of  foreign 
competition,  which  not  having  artificially  increased  its  retail 
prices  would  ruin  English  industry.  As  English  industry 
depends  for  its  existence  upon  its  trade  with  foreign  countries, 
it  would  indeed  be  badly  defended  by  tariff  regulations  which 
would  close  both  home  and  foreign  markets.  It  would  be  neces- 
sary to  introduce  the  living  wage  at  once  and  without  delay  into 
India,  America,  China,  Egypt,  Europe,  and  indeed  throughout 
the  whole  world.  However,  Canon  Scott  Holland  was  applauded 
by  an  audience  which  included  Lord  Hugh  Cecil,  Canon  Farrar, 
and  a  large  number  of  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England. 

Thus  the  living  wage  appeals  to  the  sympathies  not  only 
of  labour  associations  but  also  of  persons  of  all  ranks.  In 
their  case  the  delusion  is  due  not  to  triumph  but  to  sentiments 
of  justice  and  generosity  not  checked  by  actual  facts.  It  is  a 
fact  that  the  worker  cannot  put  his  best  work  into  a  trade 
which  does  not  afford  a  decent  living,  and  it  is  very  desirable 
that  he  should  have  the  necessary  leisure  for  intellectual  and 
spiritual  cultivation ;  but  at  the  same  time  he  is  not  forced  to 
stick  to  trades  which  are  in  his  opinion  badly  paid,  and  it  is 
an  utter  impossibility  to  fix  arbitrary  prices  in  order  to  send 
up  wages  in  such  trades. 

So  far  as  concerns  the  miners  and  the  strike  of  1893,  the 
situation  may  be  put  thus :  the  men  were  unwilling  to  change 
their  trade,  and  endeavoured  to  resist  a  reduction  which  still 
left  them  a  higher  rate  of  pay  than  what  they  had  accepted 
and  lived  on  a  few  years  before.  The  reduction  proposed  was 
25  per  cent,  while  salaries  had  risen  40  per  cent  since  1888 
in  districts  affiliated  to  the  Federation.1  Thus  the  question 

1  Labour  Gazette,  July  1893,  p.  60. 


CHAP,  iv  IN  MINES  217 

was  not  really  one  of  a  living  wage,  but  of  a  better  living 
wage.  Why  then  was  not  this  admitted  ?  Why  did  not  the 
men  take  up  a  sincere  attitude  and  say  that  they  did  not 
wish  to  see  a  reduction  of  25  per  cent  on  the  wages  they 
were  in  the  habit  of  spending  until  they  were  certain  that  the 
masters  were  really  unable  to  continue  to  pay  the  higher  rate 
of  wages  ?  This  would  have  been  quite  natural  and  quite 
true,  while  the  claim  for  a  living  wage  was  artificial,  and  was 
demolished  by  the  strike  which  was  intended  to  affirm  the 
sanctity  of  the  principle.1 

As  long  as  the  stocks  of  coal  remained  considerable  and 
there  was  no  rise  in  prices,  the  masters  maintained  the 
reduction  of  25  per  cent,  but  when  coal  became  scarce  and 
prices  began  to  go  up,  several  masters  who  saw  a  chance  of 
gain  hastened  to  make  such  concessions  as  would  induce  men 
to  resume  work.  But  as  the  rise  was  due  to  the  exceptional 
and  temporary  stoppage  of  other  pits,  they  were  always  careful 
to  stipulate  that  the  arrangement  was  only  a  temporary  one, 
so  that  all  along  the  miners,  whether  belonging  to  the  Federa- 
tion or  not,  saw  their  wages  following  the  fluctuations  of  the 
market  and  regulated  by  its  condition.  Many  of  them  were 
not  ashamed  to  profit  by  the  high  price  of  coal  to  get  an 
additional  bonus.  This  was  a  direct  contradiction  of  the 
principle  of  the  living  wage,  for  if  the  selling  price  of  a 
commodity  is  to  be  fixed  by  the  normal  wage,  this  wage 
must  be  a  fixed  quantity  independent  of  the  price  of  the 
product. 

Another  claim  which  had  to  be  abandoned  after  the  strike 

1  The  check  given  to  the  principle  of  the  living  wage  has  not  discouraged  its 
supporters,  although  the  English  miners  seem  to  have  learned  a  lesson.  At  the 
Miners'  International  Congress  at  Berlin  in  1894,  there  were  two  resolutions  dealing 
with  the  question,  one  proposed  by  English  and  the  other  by  German  delegates, 
which  are  worth  quoting  as  illustrating  the  difference  of  attitude  between  the  two. 
Englishmen  are  anxious  to  find  a  solution  which  takes  actual  circumstances  into 
consideration,  while  Germans  wish  to  appeal  to  legislation  for  a  solution.  The 
English  resolution  was  to  the  effect  "  that  this  Congress  believes  that  the  only 
way  to  obtain  and  maintain  a  living  wage  is  to  be  thoroughly  organised,  and  that 
no  question  relative  to  wages  should  be  decided  unless  profits,  losses,  selling 
prices  and  a  minimum  rate  of  wages  be  within  the  purview  of  any  arrangement 
made  for  settlement  of  wages  questions."  The  German  delegates  moved  an 
amendment  "that  this  Congress  demands  that  in  every  country  the  minimum 
wage  should  be  fixed  by  law."  The  amendment  was  lost. 


2i8  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

was  the  refusal  of  the  Federation  to  accept  permanent  arbi- 
tration boards.  In  Durham  and  Northumberland  the  masters 
and  men  had  formed  conciliation  boards  representing  both 
interests,  to  which  all  differences  had  first  to  be  submitted 
before  resorting  to  a  strike  or  lock-out. 

This  seemed  to  the  Midland  miners  a  sign  of  weakness 
and  an  indication  of  readiness  to  compromise,  and  they  re- 
pudiated such  an  arrangement  with  disdain.  In  June  1893 
Mr.  Stanley  said  to  me,  "We  don't  want  any  permanent 
arbitration  boards  to  sacrifice  our  rights ;  we  prefer  to  win  an 
undivided  triumph  by  resorting  to  a  strike  whenever  a  difficulty 
arises."  Not  long  after,  the  great  strike  of  1893  broke  out, 
and  ended,  as  we  shall  see,  in  a  compromise  which  bound  both 
masters  and  men  for  a  period  of  two  years,  and  entrusted  the 
solution  of  possible  conflicts  during  that  period  to  a  conciliation 
board  to  be  constituted  forthwith.  The  men  who  accepted 
these  terms  in  December  were  the  same  men  who  had  indig- 
nantly refused  in  June  to  have  their  hands  tied  or  to  submit 
to  arbitration.  The  strike  had  made  them  more  reasonable, 
and  had  taught  them  how  dangerous  it  is  to  think  that 
reason  is  entirely  on  their  own  side. 

Thus  the  discipline  in  which  the  Federation  had  trusted 
was  forced  to  yield  to  circumstances.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  strike  great  stress  had  been  laid  on  the  solidarity  of  miners 
as  a  body,  and  upon  the  necessity  for  common  action,  and  at  a 
conference  of  the  Federation  held  at  Westminster  on  22nd 
August  a  resolution  was  adopted  to  the  effect  that  no  pit  in 
the  Federation  should  be  allowed  to  work  until  a  general 
settlement  was  made  for  all  to  commence  at  one  and  the  same 
time.1  A  month  later,  however,  they  were  obliged  to  abandon 
this  uncompromising  attitude  and  to  authorise  Federation  men 
to  resume  work  wherever  the  masters  returned  to  the  old  rate 
and  abandoned  the  2  5  per  cent  reduction.  A  large  number  of 
partial  settlements  were  immediately  arrived  at,  and  thus  the 
phalanx  of  resistance  was  broken.  Early  in  November  most 
of  the  men  had  returned  to  work  in  Nottingham,  Warwick, 
North  Stafford,  and  Leicester.2 

This  strike,  it  should  be  remembered,  was  the  work  of  a 
reasonable  and  well-organised  body  of  men,  who  had  discussed 

1  Labour  Gazette,  Sept.  1893,  p.  104.  2  Ibid.,  Nor.  1893,  p.  154. 


CHAP,  iv  77V  MINES  219 

it  and  rediscussed  it  in  a  business-like  way  in  their  meetings, 
and  had  carried  on  dispassionate  negotiations  with  the  masters 
all  through  the  conflict.  Such  men,  it  is  evident,  must  have 
reached  a  very  high  level  of  discretion  and  intelligence.  The 
position  they  took  up  during  the  strike  was  the  position  they 
had  decided  upon  before  the  strike,  and  their  claims  had  been 
formulated  in  council  after  ripe  deliberation,  and  were  not  the 
outcome  of  any  fortuitous  accident.  If  we  read  the  accounts 
of  the  various  conferences  held  by  the  Federation  during  the 
struggle,  and  the  communications  exchanged  with  the  Coal- 
owners'  Federation,  we  shall  understand  with  what  diplomatic 
punctiliousness,  and  how  coolly  and  firmly,  the  miners  fought 
every  inch  of  the  ground.  If  they  were  ultimately  obliged  to 
surrender  these  positions,  it  must  have  been  because  failure 
was  inevitable.  Neither  discipline,  organisation,  nor  the  spirit 
of  association  can  do  away  with  the  necessity  for  good  sense, 
and  their  success  in  the  past  had  obscured  the  good  sense  of 
the  Federation  men.  They  were  intoxicated,  but  when  they 
become  sober  once  more,  they  will  understand  that  though 
Trade  Unionism  supplies  a  counterpoise  to  the  power  of  the 
masters,  it  cannot,  as  they  appeared  to  believe,  put  them  above 
the  action  of  economic  laws. 

The  lesson  which  the  strike  teaches  is  clear,  and  applies  to 
all  struggles  of  the  same  kind.  In  the  contests  which  inevit- 
ably arise  between  employers  and  employed,  organisation  and 
discipline  are  not  the  only  things  to  be  considered,  if  we  wish 
to  appreciate  aright  the  true  force  of  the  opposing  parties. 
They  are  an  indispensable  element,  but  not  the  principal  and 
fundamental  one.  In  trades  where  the  men  have  not  resorted 
to  combination,  the  master  occasionally  abuses  the  superiority 
which  the  absence  of  combination  gives  him,  but  if  the  men 
combine  they  promptly  obtain  all  that  can  reasonably  be 
obtained,  since  it  is  to  the  master's  interest  to  yield.  In 
trades  which  have  long  been  organised,  on  the  other  hand,  there 
is  no  question  of  shaking  off  a  tyranny,  and  if  the  men  try  to 
set  up  one  in  their  turn,  they  will  fail.  It  is  impossible  to 
take  advantage  of  a  master,  for  the  very  simple  reason  that  it 
would  ruin  him,  and  he  would  no  longer  be  a  master.  The 
men  must  renounce  their  too  ambitious  and  far  from  praise- 
worthy aims.  They  are  powerful  when  they  advocate  possible 


220  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

claims,  and  weak,  notwithstanding  the  ablest  organisation,  when 
they  put  forward  impossible  ones.  Circumstances  are  too  strong 
for  them,  and  the  only  consolation  for  them  is,  that  they  are 
also  stronger  than  everything  else  in  the  world. 

III.  Advantages  of  the  Organisation  of  Labour  in  Mines. 

After  this  criticism  of  the  mistaken  ideas  of  the  Federa- 
tion, it  is  only  just  to  point  out  the  important  part  it  plays,  and 
what  it  is  doing  to  bring  about  a  peaceful  future  in  the  mining 
world. 

It  is  possible  to  fight  without  organisation,  or  with  defective 
organisation,  though,  of  course,  under  unfavourable  conditions, 
at  great  expense,  with  enormous  loss,  and  at  a  great  risk  of 
defeat.  But  when  it  comes  to  making  peace,  organisation  is 
necessary.  To  treat  with  an  undisciplined  mob  is  impossible ; 
it  must  be  with  organised  bodies  capable  of  respecting  the 
articles  they  sign,  and  with  agents  who  really  represent  the 
interests  in  the  name  of  which  they  are  acting. 

When  the  men  rally  round  their  Unions  only  for  a 
moment  during  the  excitement  of  a  strike  and  then  desert  them, 
the  masters  are  little  disposed  to  treat  with  the  Unions.  What 
indeed  would  be  the  good  ?  As  soon  as  a  bargain  was  made, 
the  men  would  disavow  the  action  of  their  delegates,  and  the 
whole  question  would  be  reopened.  Such  a  case  occurred  in 
France  in  1893  at  the  time  of  the  great  coal  strike  in  the 
departments  of  Nord  and  Pas-de-Calais.  The  miners'  associa- 
tions had  not  enough  cohesion  to  qualify  them  to  repre- 
sent the  strikers,  and  the  colliery  owners  refused  to  receive 
them.  The  same  thing  occurred  during  the  Scottish  coal 
strike  in  1894,  when,  in  spite  of  the  praiseworthy  efforts  of 
the  Lord  Provost  of  Glasgow,  the  Masters'  Association  refused 
to  confer  with  the  labour  leaders.1 

On  the  other  hand,  when  the  masters  find  they  have  to 
deal  with  strong  organisations,  under  leaders  who  possess  the 
confidence  of  the  men,  they  have  everything  to  gain  by  open- 
ing negotiations.  During  the  sixteen  weeks  that  the  great 
strike  of  1893  lasted,  the  representatives  of  the  Federation 
were  in  constant  communication  with  the  Coalowners'  Federa- 

1  Labour  Gazette,  August  1894,  p.  239. 


CHAP.  IV  IN  MINES  221 

tion,  and  ultimately,  under  the  auspices  of  Lord  Rosebery,  an 
agreement  was  signed  between  them,  enabling  work  to  be 
resumed.  The  text  of  two  interesting  resolutions  passed  in 
August  will  give  an  idea  of  the  relations  existing  between 
the  two  parties  during  the  hottest  part  of  the  strike.  On 
22nd  August  the  conference  of  the  Federation  made  the 
following  proposal : — "  If  the  masters  withdraw  the  reduction 
of  25  per  cent,  we  undertake  to  resume  work  at  once,  and  to 
demand  no  increase  of  wages  until  the  price  of  coal  reaches 
the  level  at  which  it  stood  in  1890."  A  week  later,  on 
29th  August,  the  Federated  Coalowners  met  in  London,  and 
after  considering  the  men's  proposal,  they  sent  the  following 
reply  : — "  The  masters  cannot  accept  the  proposed  settlement, 
as  they  think  it  would  neither  be  to  the  advantage  of  the  coal 
trade,  the  miners,  nor  the  public,  and  they  believe  it  would  end 
in  disaster  both  for  masters  and  men."  l  At  the  same  time 
they  declared  their  readiness  to  accept  arbitration. 

This  diplomatic  exchange  of  notes  went  on  with  the  same 
punctiliousness  all  through  September,  and  brought  about  an 
appreciable  and  immediate  result.  This  was  the  resumption  of 
work  in  a  number  of  pits,  in  consequence  of  an  offer  made  to 
take  back  those  men  who  were  willing  to  work  at  the  old  rate 
of  wages  for  the  time  being.2 

At  the  beginning  of  October  the  Mayors  of  Sheffield,  Leeds, 
Bradford,  Nottingham,  Derby  and  Barnsley  offered  to  mediate, 
and  laid  before  the  two  Federations  a  settlement,  which  the 
masters  were  unable  to  accept  without  modification,  and  which 
the  men  rejected  because  it  proposed  a  reduction  of  10  per 
cent  on  their  wages.3 

These  negotiations,  however,  prevented  any  of  those  violent 
ruptures  which  might  have  provoked  a  dogged  obstinacy  on 
both  sides,  and  led  both  parties  to  examine  all  sides  of  the 
question.  They  continued  during  October,  and  then  the 
Federation,  wishing  to  be  certain  that  it  was  not  prolonging 
resistance  beyond  reasonable  limits,  and  aware  of  the  suffering 
which  the  struggle  was  inflicting  on  the  mining  popula- 
tion, submitted  the  masters'  terms  to  the  referendum  of  its 
adherents.4  This  shows  that  the  leaders  had  no  intention  of 

1  Labour  Gazette,  September  1893,  pp.  104,  105. 
3  Ibid.,  Oct.  1893,  pp.  128,  129.        3  Ibid.,  p.  129.       *  Ibid.,  Nov.  1893,  p.  154. 


222  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

exploiting  the  men,  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  they  were  sincere 
in  their  desire  to  represent  their  real  wishes.  The  men  decided 
to  continue  the  struggle  and  to  accept  no  reduction. 

However,  work  was  being  generally  resumed  at  the  old  rate 
in  some  districts,  and  the  price  of  coal  had  gone  up  so 
much,  owing  to  the  fact  that  stocks  were  exhausted,  that  the 
masters  were  in  a  position  to  pay  wages  without  reduc- 
tion. On  the  other  hand,  the  long  interruption  of  work 
had  caused  the  most  cruel  suffering.  The  time  was  not  far  off 
when  a  temporary  truce  could  be  accepted  on  both  sides.  The 
Prime  Minister  judged  this  a  fitting  moment  to  intervene  and 
hasten  the  solution  of  the  struggle.  He  had  before  him  two 
plenipotentiaries, — the  Federated  Coalowners  on  one  side,  and 
the  Miners'  Federation  on  the  other, — and  the  only  task  was  to 
bring  them  to  terms.  On  13th  November  he  addressed  the 
following  letter  to  the  respective  secretaries : — 

10  DOWNING  STREET, 

IZth  November  1893. 

SIR — The  attention  of  Her  Majesty's  Government  has  been  seriously 
called  to  the  widespread  and  disastrous  effects  produced  by  the  long  con- 
tinuance of  the  unfortunate  dispute  in  the  coal  trade,  which  has  now 
entered  on  its  sixteenth  week.  It  is  clear,  from  information  which  lias 
reached  the  Board  of  Trade,  that  much  misery  and  suffering  are  caused 
not  only  to  the  families  of  the  men  directly  involved,  but  also  to  many 
thousands  of  others,  not  engaged  in  mining,  whose  employment  has  been 
adversely  affected  by  the  stoppage.  The  further  prolongation  of  the 
dispute  cannot  fail  to  aggravate  this  suffering,  especially  in  view  of  the 
approach  of  winter,  when  the  greatly  increased  price  of  fuel  is  likely  to 
cause  distress  amongst  the  poorer  classes  throughout  the  country. 

Moreover,  the  Government  have  little  doubt  that  the  effect  of  the 
stoppage  on  industry  is  rapidly  extending  and  increasing,  and  that,  unless 
•an  early  settlement  is  effected,  lasting,  if  not  permanent,  injury  may  be 
done  to  the  trade  of  the  country.  The  Government  have  not  up  to  the 
present  considered  that  they  could  advantageously  intervene  in  a  dispute 
the  settlement  of  which  would  far  more  usefully  be  brought  about  by  the 
action  of  those  concerned  in  it  than  by  the  good  offices  of  others. 
But  having  regard  to  the  serious  state  of  affairs  referred  to  above,  to  the 
national  importance  of  a  speedy  termination  of  the  dispute,  and  to  the 
fact  that  the  conference  which  took  place  on  the  3rd  and  4th  November 
did  not  result  in  a  settlement,  Her  Majesty's  Government  have  felt  it 
their  duty  to  make  an  effort  to  bring  about  a  resumption  of  negotiations 
between  the  employers  and  employed  under  conditions  which  they  hope 
may  lead  to  a  satisfactory  result. 

It  appears  to  them  that  advantage  might  accrue  from  a  further  discus- 
sion between  the  parties  of  the  present  position  of  matters,  under  the 


CHAP,  iv  IN  MIN&S  223 

chairmanship  of  a  member  of  the  Government  who,  it  is  hoped,  will  not 
be  unacceptable  to  either  side. 

Lord  Rosebery  has  consented,  at  the  request  of  his  colleagues,  to 
undertake  the  important  duty  which  such  a  position  involves. 

I  have  therefore  to  invite  the  (Miners'  or  Coalowners')  Federation  to 
send  representatives  to  a  Conference  to  be  held  forthwith  under  his  chair- 
manship. In  discharging  this  duty,  it  is  not  proposed  that  Lord  Rosebery 
should  assume  the  position  of  an  arbitrator  or  umpire,  or  himself  vote  in 
the  proceedings,  but  that  he  should  confine  his  action  to  offering  his  good 
offices  in  order  to  assist  the  parties  in  arriving  between  themselves  at  a 
friendly  settlement  of  the  question  in  dispute. — I  am,  your  faithful 
servant,  W.  E.  GLADSTONE. 

The  following  replies  were  received  from  the  two  Federa- 
tions on  14th  November: — 

From  the  Federated  Coalowners. 

SIR — I  have  submitted  the  letter  which  I  have  had  the  honour  to 
receive  from  you  to  the  Coalowners'  Emergency  Committee,  and  I  am 
instructed  to  reply  that  the  Committee  accept  on  behalf  of  the  coalowners 
the  invitation  of  Her  Majesty's  Government  to  a  joint  conference  such  as 
is  suggested  in  your  letter. — I  have  the  honour  to  be,  sir,  your  obedient 
servant,  T.  RATCLIFFE  ELLIS. 

From  Miners'  Federation  (Telegram). 
Miners'  Federation  Great  Britain. 

Conference  decided  attend  joint  meeting  with  coalowners,  on  lines  of 
invitation  in  your  letter  received  by  me  this  morning.  Miners'  repre- 
sentatives are  prepared  to  meet  as  early  as  you  can  possibly  convene 
meeting. — ASHTOX. 

Lord  Rosebery  consequently  made  an  appointment  at  the 
Foreign  Office  for  Friday,  17th  November,  at  11  A.M.,  with  four- 
teen delegates  from  each  Federation.  An  agreement  was  signed 
at  5  P.M.,  and  the  bases  of  agreement  were  fixed.  The  happy 
outcome  of  the  negotiations  was  immediately  made  known  in 
all  the  mining  districts,  and  was  received  with  the  greatest 
enthusiasm.  Bells  were  rung  in  the  Black  Country,  and  on 
Saturday  morning  a  large  number  of  men  returned  to  work. 
The  sympathetic  personality  of  the  head  of  the  Foreign  Office, 
his  gracious  manner  of  welcoming  the  delegates  of  both  parties, 
and  the  tact  with  which  he  promoted  a  friendly  understanding, 
contributed  to  hasten  and  facilitate  the  arrangement  of  the 
crisis,  and  his  efforts  were  seconded  by  the  anxiety  for  a  settle- 


224  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

ment  on   both   sides.     The  terms  were  obviously  those  of  a 
provisional  arrangement,  and  were  as  follows : — 

I.  That  a  Board  of  Conciliation  be  constituted  forthwith  to  last  over 
the  year  at  the  least,  consisting  of  an  equal  number  of  coalowners'  and 
miners'  representatives,  14  each.     They  shall,  before  the  first  meeting, 
endeavour  to  elect  a  chairman  from  outside,  and  should  they  fail,  will  ask 
the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  to  nominate  one,  the  chairman  to 
have  the  casting  vote.     That  the  Board,  when  constituted,  shall  have  the 
power  to  determine  from  time  to  time  the  rate  of  wages  on  and  from 
1st  February  1894.       The  first   meeting   to   be  on  Wednesday,   13th 
December  1893,  at  the  Westminster  Palace  Hotel. 

II.  That  the  men  resume  work  at  once  at  the  old  rate  of  wages  until 
1st  February  1894.     It  is  agreed  that  all  collieries,  so  far  as  practicable, 
be   reopened    for  work    forthwith,  and  that,  so   far  as  practicable,  no 
impediment  be  placed  in  the  way  of  a  return  of  the  men  to  work. 

We,  the  undersigned  Chairman  and  Secretary  of  the  Federated  Coal- 
owners  and  of  the  Miners'  Federation  of  Great  Britain,  on  behalf  of  those 
represented  at  this  conference,  agree  to  the  above  terms  of  settlement  of 
the  present  coal  dispute. 

Signed  :  On  behalf  of  the  Coalowners  : 

A.  M.  CHAMBERS,  Chairman. 
THOMAS  EATCLIFFE  ELLIS,  Secretary. 

On  behalf  of  the  Miners'  Federation  : 
BENJAMIN  PICKARD,  Chairman. 
THOMAS  ASHTON,  Secretary. 

ROSEBERY,  Chairman  of  Conference. 

H.  LLEWELLYN  SMITH,  Secretary  of  Conference. 

This  is  evidently  only  a  truce,  and  in  the  disturbed  con- 
dition of  the  coal  trade,  after  so  long  a  suspension  of  work,  it 
was  impossible  to  do  more  than  sign  a  truce.  It  amounted  to 
saying,  "  Let  us  work  until  1st  February,  and  then  we  shall  see 
what  arrangement  can  be  made." 

In  addition  to  the  great  and  immediate  relief  obtained  by 
the  resumption  of  work,  a  Conciliation  Board  was  established 
for  a  year  to  prevent  future  conflicts.  This  indicated  a  very 
happy  change  of  attitude  on  the  part  of  the  Federation,  for,  as 
we  have  seen,  before  the  strike  they  rejected  with  scorn  every 
proposal  for  forming  permanent  boards  of  arbitration.  Hence- 
forth a  strike  was  not  to  be  tried  till  all  other  means  of  arriving 
at  a  settlement  had  failed. 

Subsequent  events  justified  these  proceedings.  Wages 
remained  steady  at  the  old  rate  in  the  districts  belonging  to 
the  Federation  not  only  until  1st  February,  but  all  through 


CHAP,  iv  IN  MINES  225 

the  winter  of  1894  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  warm  weather, 
when  the  falling  off  in  domestic  consumption  produces  a  yearly 
depression,  a  new  arrangement  was  concluded  which  should 
ensure  peace  for  two  years. 

On  6th  July,  at  a  sitting  of  the  Conciliation  Board,  held 
at  the  Westminster  Palace  Hotel,  London,  it  was  decided  to 
propose  for  the  acceptance  of  masters  and  men  a  settlement 
fixing  the  limits  within  which  wages  might  fluctuate  for  a 
period  of  two  years.  The  terms  were  accepted  by  both  sides, 
and  on  19th  July  the  Conciliation  Board  carried  the  following 
resolutions : — 

1st,  That  the  present  rate  of  wages  be  reduced  as  from  the  1st  August 
1894,  by  taking  off  the  last  two  advances  of  5  per  cent  each,  and  that 
the  wages  remain  at  that  rate  until  1st  January  1896. 

2nd,  That  for  a  period  of  two  years  from  the  1st  August  1894  the 
rate  of  wages  shall  not  be  below  30  per  cent  above  the  rate  of  wages  of 
1888,  nor  more  than  45  per  cent  above  the  rate  of  wages  of  1888. 

3rd,  That  from  the  1st  January  1896  to  the  1st  August  1896  the 
rate  of  wages  shall  be  determined  by  the  Conciliation  Board  within  the 
above-named  limits. 

4th,  That  the  Conciliation  Board  shall  be  continued  for  this  purpose 
for  two  years  from  the  1st  August  1894. 

(2)  That  the  above  terms  shall  apply  to  the  collieries  whose  names 
(firms,  or  companies)  shall  be  handed  to  Mr.  Thomas  Ashton  by  Mr.  T. 
Ratcliffe  Ellis  on  or  before  31st  July  1894. 

(3)  That  the  new  rate  of  wages  shall  be  paid  on  the  Friday  or  Satur- 
day, 10th  or  llth  August  next.1 

Thus  the  masters  obtained  a  reduction,  and  the  men  secured 
a  minimum  wage  sufficient  to  allow  of  a  decent  existence  for 
most  of  them.  If  it  is  any  comfort  to  call  this  a  living  wage, 
let  them  do  so,  but  it  is  needless  to  point  out  the  difference 
between  a  living  wage  settled  for  a  definite  period  and  a  living 
wage  independent  of  the  price  of  coal,  such  as  some  theorists 
dreamed  of.  English  working  men  fortunately  care  less  for 
theory  than  practice,  and  are  certainly  filled  with  satisfaction 
at  being  assured  of  proper  remuneration  for  two  years. 

The  sitting  of  19th  July  1894  forms  a  memorable 
precedent,  and  has  probably  inaugurated  a  new  era  in  the 
relations  of  masters  and  men  in  this  country.  It  will  be  an 
era  of  possible  understanding  and  reasonable  discussion ;  in 
other  words,  an  era  of  diplomatic  relations  instead  of  continual 

1  Labour  Gazette,  August  1894,  p.  239. 
Q 


226  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

war.  The  Federation  men  have  become  intelligent,  weighty 
and  capable  enough  to  treat  with  the  masters  on  equal  terms. 
They  deserve  the  position  they  have  won,  inasmuch  as  they 
have  proved  themselves  capable  of  winning  it,  and  the 
masters  have  good  cause  to  rejoice  at  a  result  so  favourable 
to  their  interests.  Among  all  the  elements  of  uncertainty 
which  affected  the  probable  margin  of  profit,  and  among  the 
risks  which  employers  had  to  run,  there  was  one  more  to  be 
feared  than  all  the  others.  The  possibility  of  a  strike  haunted 
the  masters  like  a  spectre,  but  the  signing  of  this  treaty  has 
banished  it  for  the  present,  and  removed  one  unknown  quantity 
from  the  great  problem  with  which  coalowners  have  to  deal. 
The  terms  were  accepted  by  a  large  number  of  collieries  employ- 
ing from  200,000  to  250,000  men,  or  more  than  a  third  of 
all  the  miners  in  the  country.  This  is  a  most  important  result, 
and  it  is  clearly  due  to  the  organisation  of  labour. 

Let  us  now  contrast  with  this  aristocracy  of  labour  the 
non-federated  Scottish  miners.  They  had  profited  largely  by 
the  strike  of  1893  and  the  long  period  of  idleness  in  the 
Midlands,  and  the  increase  in  the  price  of  coal  had  sent  up 
their  wages  considerably.  Their  difficulties  began  when  the 
crisis  was  over  in  England.  In  November  1893  they  demanded 
a  further  rise  of  Is.  a  day,  owing  to  the  constant  increase  in 
the  price  of  coal,  and  as  the  masters  did  not  feel  justified  in 
acceding,  about  nineteen -twentieths  of  them  in  the  west  of 
Scotland  brought  up  their  tools.  The  recent  success  of  the 
Arbitration  Committee,  over  which  Lord  Eosebery  had  presided, 
led  the  Lord  Provost  of  Glasgow  to  endeavour  to  arrange  a 
meeting  of  delegates  from  both  parties  in  the  Town  Hall,  and 
to  bring  them  to  an  understanding.  The  masters,  however, 
absolutely  refused  to  treat  with  the  representatives  of  the  men, 
not  recognising  them  as  a  power,  and  considering  it  useless  to 
treat  with  improvised  ambassadors.  The  men,  deceived  by  the 
analogy  between  their  position  and  that  of  the  Federation, 
appealed  to  the  Prime  Minister  to  intervene.  Mr.  Gladstone 
replied  in  the  following  letter : — 

10  DOWNING  STREET,  WHITEHALL, 
9th  December. 

DEAR  SIR — I  received  last  night  the  telegram  which  you  had  addressed 
to  me,  during  an  important  discussion  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  I 


CHAP,  iv  IN  MINES  227 

perused  it  with  the  utmost  interest  The  Government  regard  with  high 
satisfaction  the  action  of  Lord  Rosebery  in  the  English  coal  dispute  and 
its  result,  but  any  failure  in  the  proceeding  would  have  had  a  mischievous 
effect,  and  the  failure  was  avoided  by  an  exact  observation  of  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case.  Both  parties  were  then  before  the  Government  in 
one  and  the  same  attitude,  whereas  the  telegram  you  have  sent  me  is 
written  on  behalf  of  one  side  only,  and  I  doubt  whether  you  would  wish 
me  to  proifer  any  request  to  the  Scotch  coalinasters  concerned.  But  the 
main  point  of  difference  is  this.  We  had  in  the  English  case  full  proof 
of  repeated  efforts  at  conciliation  by  direct  communication  between  the 
parties  themselves,  and  it  was  also  apparent  that  their  powers  of  obtaining 
a  settlement  by  independent  efforts  were  exhausted.  On  the  othec  hand, 
those  efforts  had  not  been  futile,  for  they  had  served  to  bring  about 
approximations  such  as  to  afford  a  hopeful  prospect  if  Government  inter- 
vention in  a  limited  capacity  were  introduced.  I  have  not  learned  that 
an  equal  amount  of  such  independent  and  local  effort  at  agreement  has 
been  used  in  the  Scottish  case,  and  there  is  no  proof  before  me  that  the 
power  of  such  efforts  has  been  exhausted.  There  is,  therefore,  a  want  of 
parallelism  in  the  two  instances  at  the  present  moment.  I  must  remind 
you  that  the  moral  influence  of  an  administration  or  of  a  single  Minister 
in  such  a  matter  is  not  an  instrument  to  which  it  would  be  prudent  to 
revert  habitually,  or  upon  the  occurrence  of  difficulties  which  might  be 
otherwise  surmountable.  We  should  pause  before  assenting  to  use  it 
unless  satisfied  that  a  state  of  facts  existed  analogous  to  that  which  made 
the  action  of  Lord  Rosebery  practicable  and  expedient  I  have,  however, 
in  consequence  of  your  telegram,  communicated  with  the  President  of  the 
Board  of  Trade.  He  will  send  down  to  the  North  a  competent  officer  of 
his  department  to  observe  and  report  upon  the  state  of  things.  In  the 
meantime,  I  hope  that  what  I  have  written  may  assist  you,  and  those  with 
whom  you  act,  to  judge  whether  the  controversy  now  unhappily  subsisting 
in  Scotland  is  likely  to  assume  such  a  character  as  would  warrant  the 
consideration  of  the  subject  with  a  practical  view  by  the  Government. — I 
remain,  dear  sir,  your  very  faithful  and  obedient, 

W.  E.  GLADSTONE. 

This  letter,  which  I  have  quoted  in  extenso,  is  the  best 
possible  commentary  on  the  situation.  Mr.  Gladstone  there 
explains  better  than  I  could  do  the  fundamental  difference 
between  an  organised  association  of  workers,  seriously  re- 
presented, and  capable  of  treating  with  employers,  and  a  group 
of  working  men,  with  no  real  life,  no  proper  leaders,  and 
unable  to  secure  recognition  from  the  employers.  Mediation 
is  possible  in  the  case  of  two  opponents  who  agree  to  meet 
each  other,  or  between  two  regular  governments,  but  it  is 
impossible  to  make  peace  with  unauthorised  and  irresponsible 
officials. 

The  reader  will  have  noted  the  views  which  Mr.  Gladstone 


228  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

expresses  in  his  letter  as  to  the  function  of  a  government. 
In  effect  he  says  to  the  Scottish  miners,  "  Do  not  increase  the 
burden  of  Government,  which  is  already  heavy  enough,  and  do 
not  resort  to  State  intervention  except  when  you  cannot  do 
otherwise.  Where  obstacles  can  be  surmounted  by  other 
means,  employ  them.  They  are  the  best  means,  and  State 
intervention  is  but  an  indifferent  substitute."  This  English 
conception  of  Government  is  almost  diametrically  opposed  to 
the  French  conception,  in  accordance  with  which  the  central 
authority  is  first  entrusted  with  everything  which  it  can 
possibly  do,  and  then  with  a  variety  of  other  functions  which 
it  discharges  badly. 

In  the  case  of  the  Scottish  miners'  strike,  it  would  have 
been  especially  wrong  for  the  Government  to  intervene,  for, 
four  days  after  the  telegram  referred  to,  a  Conference  of  miners 
met  in  Glasgow  and  decided  to  end  the  strike  and  resume 
work  on  the  old  terms. 

Since  then,  the  coal  world  in  Scotland  has  been  agitated 
by  fresh  troubles,  and  the  organisation  of  labour  does  not 
seem  to  have  made  much  progress.  Led  by  the  example  of  the 
English  miners,  and  struck  by  the  results  obtained  by  the 
Federation,  the  Scottish  miners  have  formed  a  Scottish  Federa- 
tion affiliated  to  the  National  Federation.  This  sudden  and 
hurried  organisation  at  the  time  of  strike  is  too  like  those 
paper  constitutions  which  are  really  only  a  dead  letter.  It  is 
to  be  hoped  that  the  Scottish  miners  will  take  the  lesson  to 
heart  and  will  succeed  in  establishing  representation  on  a 
business  footing.  Hitherto  the  Union  of  Fife  and  Clackmannan 
men  is  the  only  one  with  which  masters  have  consented  to  treat. 
With  the  Scottish  Federation  they  have  again  and  again  refused 
to  enter  into  negotiations,  notwithstanding  the  intervention  of 
the  National  Federation  and  of  the  Lord  Provost  of  Glasgow.1 
But  to  have  representatives  in  a  position  to  conclude  peace  in 
an  emergency,  it  is  necessary  to  know  how  to  select  them  under 
ordinary  circumstances.  This  is  what  the  English  miners  of 

1  On  20th  July  1894  a  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council  of  the  National 
Federation  held  at  Westminster  decided  to  propose  a  settlement  to  the  Scottish 
coalowners.  This  settlement  was  rejected  by  the  General  Committee  of  Scottish 
Coalowners  on  25th  July.  Early  in  August,  the  Lord  Provost  of  Glasgow 
offered  to  mediate,  but  the  masters  refused  to  enter  into  communications  with 
the  strike  leaders  (Labour  Gazette,  August  1894,  pp.  238,  339). 


CHAP,  iv  JN  MINES  229 

the  districts  belonging  to  the  Federation  and  the  Durham  and 
Northumberland  men  have  done,  and  what  the  Scottish  miners 
have  yet  to  do. 

But  the  role  of  labour  organisations  is  not  limited  to  the 
solution  of  conflicts ;  it  also  consists  in  preventing  them  by 
keeping  the  interests  of  masters  and  men  in  touch.  Important 
results  are  obtainable  in  this  way,  and  may  rank  among  the 
great  services  rendered  to  industrial  peace  by  the  organisation 
of  labour.  The  Durham  and  Northumberland  miners,  to  take 
but  one  instance,  have  succeeded  without  legislative  assistance 
in  settling  the  great  eight  hours  question  which  is  agitating  the 
rest  of  the  country. 

Another  far-reaching  but  less  obvious  result  is  the  real 
elevation  of  the  leaders  of  these  associations.  I  have  already 
pointed  to  men  like  Thomas  Burt  and  other  labour  members, 
who  are  real  authorities  on  social  questions,  and  whose  ex- 
perience and  judgment  have  made  their  mark  in  the  position 
to  which  they  have  risen.  Many  others,  like  Mr.  Stanley,  are 
proving  their  fitness  to  continue  the  tradition.  The  interest 
of  employers  and  employed  are  too  closely  bound  up  together 
for  the  labour  leaders  to  overlook  the  interest  of  the  employers, 
and  they  are  obliged  to  consider  the  same  questions  as  the 
masters.  Thus  their  outlook  widens,  and  the  complexity 
revealed  corrects  those  absolute  and  unqualified  opinions  which 
the  more  limited  intelligence  of  the  rank  and  file  too  readily 
adopts.  Possessing  the  confidence  of  the  men,  they  find  it 
easy  to  convince  them  where  the  masters  would  fail  to  do  so. 
Thus  throughout  the  mining  class,  from  the  undistinguished 
members  at  the  bottom  to  the  president  of  the  Federation  at 
the  top,  a  constant  process  of  elevation  is  going  on  to  the 
great  profit  of  all. 

In  his  speech  at  the  opening  of  the  Annual  Congress  of 
the  Miners'  National  Federation  of  Great  Britain  in  January 
1894,  the  president,  Mr.  Pickard,  M.P.,  advised  the  Executive 
to  keep  themselves  informed  as  to  the  accumulation  of 
stocks  of  coal  in  depots  and  in  the  market,  so  that  the 
various  mining  districts  could  reduce  the  output  in  time 
to  prevent  prices  going  down,  and  a  resolution  to  this  effect 
was  carried  by  the  Congress.  This  detail  shows  that  the 
Federation  have  to  consider  the  important  question  of  the 


230  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  IN  MINES  PART  n 

distribution  of  coal  not  less  than  the  masters,  and  that  atten- 
tion to  the  market  is  one  of  their  avowed  objects.  Here  they 
become,  in  a  sense,  the  master's  colleagues  and  rise  to  his 
level,  and  resume  under  a  new  form  something  of  that 
proprietorship  which  the  old  organisation  of  industry  left  in 
the  hands  of  the  workers  but  of  which  the  modern  system  has 
deprived  them.  They  show  themselves  capable  of  partially 
directing  the  coal  trade,  the  extreme  complexity  of  which  we 
have  remarked,  and  in  proportion  as  such  manipulation  has 
become  more  delicate  their  skill  and  judgment  have  developed, 
and  they  have  risen  to  the  situation.  This  may  serve  as  an 
index  to  the  educational  and  elevating  influence  of  associations 
of  working  men. 

"We  have  now  only  to  examine  some  of  the  claims  which 
figure  on  the  programmes  of  the  miners'  Unions  of  Great 
Britain.  They  do  not  all  seem  capable  of  practical  application, 
at  any  rate  in  their  present  form,  but  all  point  to  sufferings 
and  aspirations  which  will  throw  light  on  the  social  position 
of  the  miner,  while  some  of  them  have  a  still  more  general 
bearing. 


CHAPTER   V 

THE  MINERS'  DEMANDS 

WE  have  already  had  occasion  to  notice  some  of  the  points 
to  which  the  miners'  Unions  attach  great  importance,  such  as 
their  opposition  to  royalties  and  their  support  of  the  principle 
of  the  living  wage.  But  no  definite  steps  have  yet  been  taken 
towards  the  abolition  of  royalties,  and  though  in  some  cases 
the  Unions  may  have  succeeded  in  fixing  a  minimum  wage, 
yet  the  proposal  to  fix  the  price  of  coal  by  the  rate  of  wages 
is  not  one  that  can  be  seriously  entertained. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  points  in  their  programme 
which  they  have  already  begun  to  put  into  execution,  and 
these  consequently  afford  us  a  base  of  investigation.  It  will 
be  interesting  to  discover  what  practical  results  they  have 
achieved,  and  what  modifications  they  have  undergone  in  the 
process,  as  well  as  what  we  may  hope  from  them  for  the  solu- 
tion of  the  problems  they  deal  with.  All  the  proposed 
reforms  seem  to  be  directed  to  the  same  end,  to  ensure  regu- 
larity of  employment  and  to  diminish  as  much  as  possible 
those  sudden  stoppages  which  upset  the  family  exchequer  by 
throwing  the  father  out  of  work.  We  have  seen  how  the 
miner's  trade  is  exposed  to  the  inevitable  risk  which  besets 
all  skilled  trades.  When  a  pit  does  not  pay,  a  collier  cannot 
turn  round  and  make  a  living  at  some  other  sort  of  work,  but 
his  fortune  is  bound  up  with  that  of  the  pit.  We  have  seen 
that  owing  to  the  nature  of  the  product  and  the  conditions  of 
the  market  masters  cannot  afford  to  allow  stocks  of  coal  to 
accumulate,  and  that  the  supply  has  to  be  continually  regu- 
lated by  the  demand.  Thus  there  is  a  chronic  difficulty :  the 


232  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

needs  of  the  men  require  the  extraction  of  coal  to  proceed  at 
a  regular  rate,  and  the  operation  of  the  laws  of  supply  and 
demand  tend  irresistibly  to  make  it  irregular. 

This  constitutes  the  chief  hardship  of  the  miner's  calling, 
and  it  is  naturally  against  this  that  their  efforts  are  directed. 
Various  artificial  means  have  been  devised  as  palliatives  to 
soothe  an  ill  they  are  powerless  to  cure.  One  roundabout 
and  indirect  method  proposed  is  that  the  men  should  devote 
their  enforced  leisure  to  cultivating  the  soil.  This  led  to 
the  existing  laws  relating  to  small  holdings  and  allotments, 
which  give  the  working  classes  greater  facilities  for  obtaining 
them.  Among  the  direct  means  is  the  agitation  for  an  eight 
hours  day,  which,  by  slightly  diminishing  the  quantity  of  coal 
extracted  per  head,  would  allow  of  the  employment  of  more 
men  without  increasing  the  total  output.  It  has  also  been 
'proposed  to  effect  a  compulsory  reduction  in  the  total  produc- 
tion, in  order  to  prevent  the  accumulation  of  stocks,  which 
depress  the  market  and  lead  to  crises.  We  shall  now  examine 
in  succession  the  efficacy  of  these  various  means. 

I.  Small  Holdings  and  Allotments. 

Side  by  side  with  occasional  periods  of  unemployment  due 
to  the  market  being  for  the  moment  overstocked,  there  are 
others  which  return  with  more  or  less  well-marked  periodicity. 
The  phenomenon,  as  we  have  seen,  is  especially  common 
in  the  Midlands,  where  the  falling  off  in  the  domestic  con- 
sumption every  summer  causes  a  corresponding  falling  off  in 
employment,  so  that  miners  are  in  work  only  for  three,  and 
sometimes  only  for  two,  days  a  week.  Between  1875  and 
1893,  according  to  Mr.  Stanley,  this  happened  every  summer 
except  in  1888. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  if  a  summer  occupation  could  be 
found  to  occupy  this  time  of  enforced  idleness  it  would  be  an 
unspeakable  benefit  to  the  Midland  miners.  Agriculture  needs 
extra  hands  in  summer,  and  therefore  seems  marked  out  to 
supply  what  is  required.  But,  as  things  are,  miners  cannot 
find  sufficient  employment  on  neighbouring  farms,  and  it  is  of 
course  impossible  to  seek  it  at  a  distance,  because  they  are  at 
work  in  the  pits  two  or  three  days  a  week,  and  obliged  to  live 


CHAP,  v  IN  MINES  233 

near  them.  But,  supposing  that  the  farmers  of  the  neighbour- 
hood were  in  a  position  to  employ  all  the  unskilled  labour 
which  the  colliers  have  to  dispose  of,  the  problem  would  not  be 
solved.  A  farmer  must  have  men  who  are  available  when  he 
wants  them,  and  not  merely  when  they  have  nothing  else  to 
do.  He  might  at  a  pinch  occupy  one  or  two  such  men,  but  it 
would  be  impossible  for  him  to  allow  them  to  form  the  whole 
or  any  considerable  part  of  his  total  number  of  hands.  On 
the  other  hand,  men  in  the  habit  of  earning  6s.  or  7s.  a  day 
are  not  contented  with  an  agricultural  labourer's  wages,  so 
that  the  actual  number  of  those  who  supplement  their  earnings 
in  this  way  is  very  small  indeed. 

These  two  obstacles  disappear  if  the  men  work  on  their 
own  account  on  a  little  holding  which  they  own  or  rent. 
There  they  can  really  work  when  they  like,  and  as  the  whole 
profit  will  be  theirs,  the  question  of  wages  can  be  left  out  of 
consideration. 

The  idea  is  gaining  ground  in  the  Midlands,  and  Mr. 
Stanley  seems  much  charmed  by  the  picture  of  a  miner 
proprietor  who  falls  back  on  his  land  when  the  mine  stops 
work.  The  type  has  indeed  much  in  its  favour,  and  exists  not 
only  in  England  but  in  some  parts  of  France,  and  probably 
also  in  Germany.1  I  have  seen  much  the  same  thing  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Saint-£tienne,  where  the  mountain  folk  of 
Velay  and  Auvergne  work  in  the  mines  during  their  winter 
leisure,  and  I  particularly  remember  the  mining  village  of 
Brassac,  south  of  Brioude,  where  most  of  the  miners  are  also 
peasant  proprietors.  There  we  have  a  population  which  unites 
the  larger  resources  of  the  miner's  calling  to  the  security  of 
rural  life.  It  is  easy  to  see  how  such  a  happy  combination 
pleases  a  class  so  conservative  as  miners. 

But  in  England  peasant  proprietorship  is  almost  non- 
existent. Land  is  monopolised  by  the  rich  or  noble.  38,000 
landowners  own  four-fifths  of  the  arable  land,  and  the  remaining 
fifth  is  divided  in  insignificant  fragments  among  920,000  small 
proprietors  and  cottagers.  Statistics  tell  us  so  much,  but  they  do 

1  On  the  combination  of  mining  with  agriculture,  see  Ouvriers  des  Deux- 
Mondes,  2nd  series,  vol.  ii.,  "Miners  of  the  Ruhr  Basin,"  by  L.  Fevre,  mining 
engineer,  p.  251.  See  also  Les  Ouvriers  europ&ns,  vol.  iii.,  "  Miners  of  the 
Upper  Hartz,"  by  F.  le  Play. 


234  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

not  say  how  many  of  these  920,000  small  proprietors  are  persons 
of  the  middle  class,  with  a  house  and  garden  in  the  country. 
A  large  number  of  the  920,000  portions  are  put  to  such  use, 
and  though  they  are  part  of  the  cultivated  soil,  they  are  not 
agricultural  holdings  in  the  proper  sense.  In  fact,  the  peasant 
proprietor  does  not  exist  either  in  England  or  in  Scotland 
The  Eosewell  miners  have  not  an  inch  of  land  of  their  own, 
nor  any  opportunity  of  renting  or  feuing  any. 

This  is  not  an  artificial  circumstance  due  to  the  system  of 
entail.  When  a  large  estate  comes  into  the  market  it  is  easier 
to  find  a  purchaser  for  the  whole  estate  than  for  separate 
lots.  There  are  many  capitalists  who  are  willing  to  sink  their 
money  in  return  for  the  dignity  and  importance  attached  to 
the  possession  of  large  landed  property.  In  France,  on  the 
.trary,  owing  to  a  special  set  of  circumstances,  more  can  be 

ised  by  selling  separate  lots  to  peasants  and  persons  in  a 
small  way  than  by  selling  the  whole  estate  to  a  large  landed 
proprietor.  Natural  causes  tend  to  break  up  large  estates, 
just  as  in  England  and  Scotland  other  natural  causes  of  an 
opposite  tendency  are  at  work  to  consolidate  them.1  Thus  the 
ideal  proposed  has  to  encounter  a  serious  obstacle,  but  that  is 
no  reason  for  abandoning  it  until  it  is  proved  that  there  is  no 
way  out  of  the  difficulty. 

The  question  of  allotments  and  small  holdings  has  attracted 
considerable  attention,  and  has  led  to  the  enactment  of  a 
number  of  laws  affording  facilities  for  the  acquisition  of  small 
holdings.  Private  initiative  led  the  way,  and  a  society  was 
formed,  with  the  Duke  of  Westminster  as  president,  with  the 
object  of  extending  the  voluntary  system  of  allotments. 

The  objects  of  the  Society  were  defined  by  the  secretary, 
Lord  Onslow,  in  his  book  on  Landlords  and  Allotments.  Accord- 
ing to  Lord  Onslow,  the  association  was  formed  to  popularise  and 
extend  the  practice,  already  common  in  certain  districts,  of  rent- 

1  Small  holdings,  it  is  perhaps  needless  to  remark,  may  he  found  outside 
Great  Britain  in  her  colonies.  In  the  United  States,  Australia,  and  at  the  Cape 
many  settlers  cultivate  their  own  land.  In  the  cultivated  parts  they  are  in  a 
large  majority,  while  squatters  are  engaged  in  cattle  breeding  on  land  not  yet 
brought  under  cultivation.  This  is  a  compensation  for  the  disappearance  of 
small  holdings  in  the  mother  country.  It  is  a  mistake  to  consider  England 
separately,  because  she  is  not  really  a  separate  country,  but  the  capital  of  the 
English-speaking  world. 


CHAP,  v  IN  MINES  235 

ing  as  an  allotment  a  small  quantity  of  arable  land  or  pasture 
sufficient  for  a  cow,  in  addition  to  the  cottage  garden.  He 
points  out  that  it  is  universally  allowed  that  the  small  wage- 
earner  who  has  an  allotment  can  turn  his  leisure  to  profitable 
account  in  its  cultivation,  and  thus  by  means  of  his  own  labour 
and  the  assistance  of  his  family  bring  about  a  real  improve- 
ment in  his  social  condition  and  financial  position.  It  has 
been  found  that  rents  are  paid  regularly  and  that  enough 
manure  can  be  put  into  the  land  to  prevent  it  becoming  ex- 
hausted, and  on  these  terms  a  class  of  small  farmers  might  be 
created  who  would  be  grateful  for  such  facilities  and  ready  to 
pay  a  high  rent  for  land.  Landlords  have  therefore  an  ex- 
cellent opportunity  of  showing,  with  regard  to  allotments,  that 
it  is  unnecessary  to  resort  to  legislative  means  and  that  the 
result  aimed  at  by  such  legislation,  which  would  be  of  doubtful 
benefit  to  the  agricultural  population,  may  be  attained  through 
the  co-operation  of  the  landlords  themselves. 

The  latter  part  of  this  quotation  shows  that  the  steps 
taken  by  the  Society  for  the  voluntary  extension  of  allotments 
was  not  the  beginning  of  the  movement.  It  was  a  response  to 
steps  taken  by  associations  of  working  men,  and  especially  of 
agricultural  labourers  and  miners.  This  question  has  long 
been  included  in  their  programme,  and  their  agitation  led  to 
legislative  measures  dealing  with  the  matter. 

In  1887  an  Allotment  Act  was  passed  which  provided 
for  the  constitution  of  allotments  not  exceeding  an  acre  in 
extent,  and  gave  the  local  authorities  considerable  powers  to 
assist  in  creating  them.  The  County  Councils  were  to  acquire 
land  and  provide  allotments  for  working  men  who  applied  for 
them. 

This  law  seems  to  have  produced  but  little  effect,  at  least 
so  far  as  miners  were  concerned,  and  it  is  not  surprising  if  the 
Midland  miners  thought  it  insufficient  to  deal  with  the  problem 
of  irregular  employment.  An  acre  of  land  cannot  be  culti- 
vated, it  can  only  be  gardened,  and  though  it  may  be  a  very 
appreciable  source  of  comfort  to  a  family  when  work  is  regular, 
it  would  not  supply  the  place  if  other  work  failed.  Mr. 
Stanley  pointed  out  to  me  that  allotments  would  never  be  a 
sufficient  remedy,  and  he  was  quite  right. 

A  second  Act  passed  in  1892  goes  further,  and  provides 


236  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

not  merely  for  letting,  but  also  for  effecting  the  sale  of,  small 
holdings,  varying  in  area  from  1  to  50  acres.  This  Act 
seriously  aims  at  creating  peasant  proprietors.  The  working 
man  who  wishes  to  acquire  a  small  holding  must  pay  down 
one-fifth  of  the  purchase-money,  and  the  County  Council  will 
lend  him  the  remaining  four-fifths  at  the  same  rate  of  interest 
as  the  Council  itself  pays,  the  whole  sum  to  be  wiped  out  by 
fifty  annual  payments.  Even  this  Mr.  Stanley  considers  in- 
sufficient. He  maintains  that  no  law  will  have  much  effect 
until  landlords  are  compelled  to  give  up  unproductive  and 
uncultivated  lands,  such,  for  example,  as  are  now  devoted  to 
raising  game.  He  would  not  propose,  of  course,  to  force  land- 
lords to  sell  land  under  cultivation  nor  to  break  up  the  parks 
surrounding  their  seats,  but  only  land  of  which  no  use  is  made.1 
I  objected  that  such  a  law  would  be  difficult  to  carry  out.  It 
is  expropriating  land  in  the  interests  of  one  section  of  the 
community,  and  the  first  step  in  a  dangerous  direction. 
Further,  it  would  be  found  extremely  difficult  in  practice  to 
determine  what  lands  were  so  far  utilised  by  the  landlord  as  to 
be  excluded  from  the  operation  of  the  Act  and  what  were  not. 
Again,  to  what  authority  could  the  task  be  committed  ?  Mr. 
Stanley  thinks  that  the  County  Councils  would  be  the  proper 
authorities,  but  I  cannot  say  that  I  am  convinced. 

But  supposing  Mr.  Stanley's  plan  were  put  into  execution, 
what  would  probably  happen  ?  Many  miners  would  find  it 
difficult  to  transmit  their  small  holding  in  its  entirety,  and  it 
would  probably  be  offered  for  sale  at  the  father's  death.  Who 
could  afford  to  buy  it  and  pay  ready  money  ?  Some  capitalist 
who  would  add  it  to  a  neighbouring  estate  or  let  it  to  a 
workman.  The  efforts  of  the  law  to  render  the  working 
man  a  peasant  proprietor  would  be  frustrated  in  each 
generation.2 

Thus,  on  the  one  hand,  the  present  law  respecting  small 
holdings  does  not  satisfy  the  miners,  because  too  few  pro- 
prietors are  willing  to  dismember  their  estates;  and  on  the 

1  Something  has  heen  done  in  this  direction  by  the  last  Allotments  Act,  but 
no  compulsory  steps  have  been  taken  up  to  the  present. 

2  At  Creusot  Messrs.  Schneider  made  a  generous  attempt  to  enable  their 
men  to  acquire  the  houses  in  which  they  lived,  but  whenever  the  head  of  the 
family  died,  the  houses  were  sold  to  speculators.     The  difficulty  is  not  to  create 
working-men  proprietors,  but  to  make  them  capable  of  remaining  so. 


CHAP,  v  IN  MINES  237 

other,  if  compulsory  sale  were  enacted,  large  estates  would  be 
reconstituted  as  the  small  proprietors  died  off,  through  the 
action  of  the  same  natural  causes  which  bring  about  this 
result  at  present.  Of  course  the  law  might  forbid  the  sale  of 
a  small  holding  to  a  man  who  possessed  another,  or  to  any 
capitalist  or  landlord,  and  in  fact  make  it  taboo !  But  this 
would  be  an  inconvenient  piece  of  property,  difficult  of  sale, 
and  consequently  of  very  small  value.  Why  then  make  a 
man  pay  the  ordinary  price  for  land  which  he  could  only  get 
rid  of  at  a  disadvantage  ? 

Would  it  not  be  better  that  working  men  should  rent 
small  holdings  instead  of  buying  them  outright  ?  This,  indeed, 
is  what  the  present  law  would  come  to  at  the  end  of  a  genera- 
tion in  the  majority  of  cases.  Why  not  aim  directly  at  the 
result  which  economic  laws  tend  naturally  to  produce,  instead 
of  seeking  an  antagonistic  one  ?  The  Society  for  the  Extension 
of  Allotments  might  do  much  in  this  direction  if  they  also 
turned  their  attention  to  small  holdings,  and  the  great  land- 
lords who  are  at  the  head  of  it  would  probably  find  this  a 
useful  method  of  deriving  a  profit  from  their  lands,  while  at 
the  same  time  conferring  a  benefit  on  society.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  easier  for  working  men  to  become  tenants  than 
proprietors.  Their  means  would  in  most  cases  allow  them  to 
do  so,  and  thus  the  reform  would  affect  a  larger  number. 
Further,  at  a  time  when  it  is  necessary  in  the  labour  world  to 
be  able  to  make  a  prompt  change  of  front  when  necessary,  is  it 
wise  to  bind  a  family  whose  chief  resources  come  from  an 
industrial  source  to  a  property  which  it  cannot  get  rid  of  at 
any  moment  ?  It  is  impossible  to  say  how  the  development 
of  electricity  may  affect  the  future  of  coal,  and  therefore  it 
might  not  be  desirable  to  link  a  mining  family  indissolubly  to 
this  unknown  future. 

To  sum  up,  the  problem  of  irregular  employment  might  per- 
haps be  solved  by  the  renting  of  small  holdings,  but  their  purchase 
outright  not  only  raises  great  difficulties  but  presents  serious 
dangers.  Therefore  the  combined  efforts  of  County  Councils 
and  associations,  whether  of  masters,  landlords,  or  men,  should 
be  directed  towards  facilitating  a  system  of  renting.  In 
this  direction  there  would  seem  to  be  room  for  a  beneficial 
reform. 


238  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 


II.   The  Eight  Hours  Day  for  Miners. 

The  question  of  an  eight  hours  day  for  miners  came  near 
a  solution  in  the  Parliamentary  session  of  1894.  The  bill  had 
passed  the  second  reading  when  an  amendment  was  introduced 
in  committee  which  compelled  the  promoters  to  withdraw  the  bill. 
This  amendment  established  the  system  known  as  local  option, 
and  allowed  any  mining  district  to  set  aside  the  eight  hours 
day  if  a  majority  of  the  men  in  the  district  were  opposed  to  it. 
Thus  it  preserved  the  liberty  of  the  Durham  and  Northumber- 
land miners,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  were  absolutely  opposed  to 
any  legislative  restriction  of  the  hours  of  labour. 

A  measure  so  liberal  could  not  but  satisfy  all  who  were 
really  desirous  of  freeing  the  miner  from  excessive  hours  of 
work,  but  it  went  directly  counter  to  the  real  object  of  those 
who  had  introduced  it.  They  withdrew  it  in  its  amended 
form  because  local  option  would  defeat  their  intentions.  The 
object  they  had  at  heart  was  not  merely  to  secure  to  miners 
the  leisure  necessary  for  their  intellectual  and  moral  elevation, 
but  to  introduce  a  shorter  working  day,  in  order  to  give 
employment  to  more  men. 

In  England  and  Scotland  miners  rarely  work  more  than 
nine  hours  a  day,  and  an  hour  less  would  not  so  increase  their 
leisure  as  to  change  the  current  of  their  lives.  So  much 
agitation  for  nothing  more  than  that  would  indeed  be  much 
ado  about  nothing.  But  at  least  500,000  out  of  the  total 
number  of  650,000  miners  work  more  than  eight  hours  a  day, 
and  if  we  multiply  one  hour's  work  by  the  number  of  men 
affected,  we  get  500,000  hours,  or  62,500  days  of  eight  hours 
each.  That  is  to  say,  such  a  measure  would  provide  work  for 
62,500  men  now  out  of  work. 

The  advocates  of  a  compulsory  eight  hours  day  for  miners 
reckon  that  this  addition  of  62,500  working  days  would 
prevent  men  from  being  thrown  out  of  work.  But  this 
conclusion,  notwithstanding  its  semblance  of  mathematical 
accuracy,  would  only  be  true  if  the  reduction  of  working  hours 
by  one-ninth  really  diminished  the  production  of  coal  by  one- 
ninth  ;  and  further,  if  the  number  of  miners  did  not  increase 
under  the  new  regime. 


CHAP,  v  IN  MINES  239 

This  is  not  the  case.  It  is  now  universally  recognised — 
and  it  is  one  of  the  arguments  most  frequently  used,  and  with 
justice,  in  favour  of  shortening  the  working  day — that  a  man 
produces  more  per  hour  in  proportion  to  the  diminution  of  the 
hours  of  labour.  Experience,  therefore,  is  against  the  arith- 
metical argument.  Secondly,  the  number  of  miners  is  not 
a  constant  quantity,  and  it  would  certainly  be  largely  increased 
if  more  employment  was  offered.  It  has  already  been  re- 
marked that  the  demand  for  coal  varies  considerably  with  the 
season,  especially  in  the  Midlands.  In  winter,  therefore,  it 
would  be  necessary,  in  order  to  meet  the  demand,  to  employ 
extra  hands,  who  would  be  thrown  out  of  work  during  the  dull 
summer  season.  In  order  to  be  logical  it  would  be  necessary 
to  bar  the  entrance  to  the  trade  as  in  the  guilds  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  but  happily  English  common  sense  stops  before  this 
obvious  impossibility. 

Nevertheless,  the  miners'  Unions  from  time  to  time  protest 
in  a  more  or  less  platonic  fashion  against  workers  at  the 
surface  being  employed  underground,  and  they  are  desirous  of 
prohibitive  legislation  which  would  prevent  a  man  of  more 
than  eighteen  years  of  age  from  working  in  any  pit  unless  he 
has  worked  as  a  collier  before  attaining  this  age.  In  short, 
they  are  making  hesitating  but  unavailing  attempts  to  render 
the  exercise  of  the  miner's  calling  less  unrestricted  than  it  is 
at  present,  but  it  is  useless  on  their  part  to  hope  for  any 
serious  results  in  this  direction. 

In  most  districts,  however,  a  shorter  working  day  has 
already  been  obtained  without  recourse  to  legislation.  The 
eight  hours  day  has  been  introduced  in  Durham  and  North- 
umberland, and  local  option  would  have  done  a  great  deal  in 
the  same  direction  had  not  the  amended  measure  been  with- 
drawn by  the  promoters,  because  such  partial  success  would 
have  checkmated  their  larger  plan. 

We  can  now  understand  the  attitude — often  misunder- 
stood—of the  Durham  and  Northumberland  men  on  this 
question.  The  supporters  of  a  compulsory  reduction  accuse 
them  of  selfishness,  and  say  that,  having  obtained  for  them- 
selves what  they  wanted,  they  refuse  to  help  their  com- 
rades who  are  trying  to  get  an  eight  hours  day.  But  the  pro- 
posal to  establish  local  option  cuts  this  ground  from  under 


240  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

their  feet,  and  the  only  charge  which  can  be  brought  against 
the  Durham  and  Northumberland  men  is  that  they  are  un- 
willing to  associate  themselves  with  a  measure  for  diminishing 
irregularity  of  employment.  But  the  North  Country  miners  do 
not  believe  in  the  method  proposed,  and  in  any  case,  owing  to 
the  fact  that  theirs  is  largely  a  foreign  custom,  they  suffer  less 
from  irregularity  of  employment.  This  is  the  true  reason  of 
their  different  policy.  When  the  Durham  and  Northumber- 
land men  are  described  as  bravely  defending  the  liberty  of  the 
individual,  and  the  Midland  miners  as  tending  towards  State 
Socialism,  the  real  fact  is  that  the  former  reject  legislative 
compulsion  because  they  stand  in  no  need  of  it,  while  the 
latter  cry  out  for  it  because  they  think  it  would  benefit  them. 
If  the  Durham  men  suffered  from  irregularity  of  employment, 
they  would  act  precisely  as  the  Midland  men  do. 

In  1893  I  attended  the  Trades  Union  Congress  at  Belfast. 
Mr.  Fenwick,  secretary  of  the  Parliamentary  Committee,  was 
severely  heckled  on  the  question  of  the  Eight  Hours  Bill, 
which  had  been  defeated  in  the  House  of  Commons.  In  the 
report  of  the  Parliamentary  Committee,  which  he  presented  as 
secretary,  Mr.  Fenwick  said  that  the  Committee  had  used 
their  influence  with  members  of  the  House  of  Commons  to 
secure  the  passing  of  the  bill.  Several  delegates  protested 
that  it  was  notorious  that  Mr.  Fenwick  and  Mr.  Wilson  had 
voted  against  the  bill,  and  these  gentlemen  had  to  justify 
their  conduct.  Without  going  into  their  reasons  for  disapprov- 
ing of  the  measure,  they  simply  maintained  that  for  their 
conduct  as  members  of  Parliament  they  were  responsible  only 
to  their  constituents.  I  well  remember  the  honourable  and 
manly  tone  in  which  Mr.  Fenwick,  who  was  specially  attacked, 
defended  his  course.  It  required  no  little  courage  to  proclaim 
openly  his  independence  of  the  Congress,  for  the  object  of  the 
attack  was  to  remove  him  from  the  important  position  of 
secretary  of  the  Parliamentary  Committee,  which  he  had  held 
for  several  years.  "  I  consider,"  he  said,  "  that  I  am  perfectly 
free  as  a  member  of  Parliament  to  obey  or  disobey  the  wishes 
expressed  by  this  Congress.  As  a  member  of  Parliament  I 
am  not  responsible  either  to  this  or  any  other  Congress,  but 
solely  to  the  men  who  pay  me  and  who  send  me  to  represent 
them  in  the  House  of  Commons.  If  the  Congress  desires  to 


CHAP,  v  IN  MINES  241 

dispense  with  my  services,  I  shall  bear  it  no  ill  will ;  but  so 
long  as  I  have  the  honour  to  represent  a  constituency  in 
Parliament,  I  do  not  intend  to  be  controlled  except  by  the 
electors  of  that  constituency." 

Mr.  Fenwick  had  already  made  a  similar  declaration  at 
the  Liverpool,  Newcastle,  and  Glasgow  Congresses,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  make  it  again  at  the  Norwich  Congress  in  1894. 
At  this  Congress  the  supporters  of  a  compulsory  eight  hours 
day  for  miners  were  strong  enough  to  secure  a  majority 
against  retaining  Mr.  Fenwick  as  Parliamentary  secretary. 
His  defeat  was  due  not  to  a  conflict  between  his  personal 
conviction  and  a  vote  of  the  Congress,  but  to  the  clashing  of 
divergent  interests — the  interests  of  his  constituents,  the 
Durham  miners,  and  the  interests  of  the  Trade  Unions,  in 
which  the  influence  of  the  Federation  predominated. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  supporters  of  compulsion  do  not 
hesitate  to  unmask  their  batteries  and  avow  their  real  end  by 
opposing  to  their  utmost  any  projects  of  local  option.  In 
June  1893  Sir  Charles  Dilke  addressed  a  meeting  of  miners 
at  Barnsley  to  this  effect : — "  Although  this  declaration  may 
lose  us  votes,  it  is  well  that  the  supporters  of  the  proposed 
measure  should  profit  by  the  first  occasion  to  announce  with- 
out any  circumlocution  that  no  sort  of  local  option  will  be 
acceptable  to  them." *  Sir  Charles  Dilke  also  told  his  con- 
stituents, the  Forest  of  Dean  miners,  that  his  efforts  would  be 
directed  not  merely  to  allowing  them  to  work  only  eight  hours, 
but  to  preventing  other  miners  from  working  longer. 

Nor  is  it  only  representatives  of  mining  districts  who 
uphold  the  interests  of  this  district  rather  than  a  theory  of 
government ;  those  who  do  not  feel  bound  by  their  declara- 
tion on  the  subject  also  look  at  the  question  in  the  same  way, 
and  compare  and  weigh  the  conflicting  interests.  In  an  open 
letter  addressed  to  Mr.  D.  A.  Thomas,  M.P.,  in  August  1894, 
Mr.  Gladstone  expressed  himself  on  the  question  thus  : — "  I  am 
clearly  of  opinion  that  if  miners  by  an  almost  unanimous 
majority  desire  an  Eight  Hours  Bill,  they  have  a  moral  right 
to  it.  I  have  grave  doubts,  however,  as  to  their  moral  right 
to  impose  this  reform  on  a  considerable  minority,  and  I 

1  Yorkshire  Evening  Post,  Tuesday,  20th  June  1893. 
R 


242  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

apprehend  that  if  this  minority  is  really  considerable,  there 
will  be  more  practical  difficulty  in  coercing  them  than  the 
promoters  of  the  measure  anticipate." 

Mr.  Gladstone's  view  is  the  right  one  :   it  is  a  conflict  of 
interests,  and  not  a  discussion  of  principles. 


III.  Legislative  Limitation  of  Production. 

Side  by  side  with  the  question  of  the  eight  hours  day, 
which  is  in  process  of  solution,  and  which  the  persevering 
efforts  of  the  majority  of  miners  will  probably  succeed  in 
making  compulsory,  there  is  a  far  bolder  project  of  much  more 
general  scope,  which  proposes  to  deal  directly  with  the  danger 
of  over-production,  and  the  irregularity  of  employment  con- 
sequent upon  it.  It  has  hitherto  remained  a  mere  aspiration, 
but  it  requires  notice  as  showing  to  what  extent  English 
miners  are  to-day  looking  towards  legislative  control. 

At  the  Berlin  Conference  of  Miners  in  May  1894,  the 
French  and  Belgian  delegates  proposed  a  resolution  in  favour 
of  limiting  production  by  an  international  agreement  of  workers. 
The  German  delegates  introduced  an  amendment  to  the  effect 
that  no  complete  remedy  for  over-production  could  be  found 
unless  the  existing  social  system  was  first  changed.  This  was 
equivalent  to  postponing  any  project  of  reform  until  the  Greek 
Kalends,  and  the  English  delegates  disapproved  of  such  a 
course.  They  rejected  the  amendment  of  the  German  delegates, 
and  proposed  the  following,  which  was  carried : — 

The  Congress  is  of  opinion  that  the  over-production  of  coal  is  due  to 
the  introduction  of  unskiDed  labourers  into  the  mines,  and  the  enormous 
increase  in  competition  among  merchants.  The  Congress  is  therefore 
agreed  that  all  nationalities  should  have  recourse  to  every  legitimate 
means  for  limiting  the  production  of  coal,  and  should  endeavour  by  legal 
means  to  prevent  the  admission  in  future  of  unskilled  labourers  into  the 
mines. 

This  is  a  return  to  the  guild  system  and  its  strict  limita- 
tion of  production,  and  the  abuse  of  the  long  novitiate  in  the 
case  of  young  workmen,  without  the  excuse  of  special  cir- 
cumstances which  formerly  permitted  such  restraints  to  be 
imposed.,  The  aspirations  of  the  English  miners  are  at  once 


CHAP,  v  IN  MINES  243 

vague   and    precise,  vague  as   to    the    means,   precise    as   to 
the  end. 

How  can  the  various  States  intervene  to  any  purpose  to 
prevent  a  master  from  extracting  coal,  and  how,  above  all,  can 
they  fix  the  precise  point  at  which  further  production  should 
cease  ?  Supposing  this  could  be  done,  could  they  agree  among 
themselves  and  force  work  to  cease  simultaneously  in  the 
various  countries  ?  The  state  of  the  market  would  have  varied 
over  and  over  again  while  their  representatives  were  coming 
to  an  understanding,  and  their  treaties  would  invariably  be 
behind  the  market,  and  would  regulate  labour  not  by  the  actual 
situation  but  by  the  situation  as  it  had  been.  Such  a  project 
is  quite  impracticable,  and  it  is  an  amazing  thing  to  see  cool 
and  clear-headed  men  of  experience  and  common  sense  like 
the  English  delegates  recommending  it  for  adoption  by  an 
International  Congress. 

There  must,  it  is  obvious,  be  a  reason  for  this  strange 
conduct.  It  is  often  said  that  English  miners  are  abandoning 
the  old  traditions  of  private  initiative  for  socialistic  methods, 
but  this  is  a  statement  of  facts  and  not  an  explanation.  It  is 
not  any  blind  and  unreflecting  attachment  to  socialism  which 
makes  them  act  thus,  for,  as  we  have  seen,  when  they  are 
masters  of  the  situation  they  never  have  recourse  to  legislation 
to  carry  their  point.  They  have  succeeded  in  forming  their 
powerful  associations  without  the  assistance  of  legislation,  and 
indeed  to  some  extent  in  spite  of  it.  Legislation  has  had 
no  share  in  securing  the  high  rate  of  wages  they  earn, 
nor  in  establishing  the  eight  hours  day  in  Durham  and 
Northumberland,  and  the  nine  hours  day  almost  every- 
where else.  They  have  not  been  indebted  to  legislation 
for  the  permanent  arbitration  boards,  which  enable  them 
to  settle  disputes  with  the  masters  pacifically ;  nor  for  the 
establishment  of  Friendly  and  Co-operative  Societies,  which 
provide  for  them  in  times  of  crisis,  or  save  them  from 
exploitation  at  the  hands  of  retail  dealers.  All  this  they 
have  done  unaided,  and  why  then  do  they  now  turn  to 
legislation  for  aid  ? 

The  reason  is  a  very  simple  one.  It  is  because  they  are 
face  to  face  with  an  impossibility.  At  the  beginning  of  this 
study  I  pointed  out  that  the  miners'  trade  assumes  an  entirely 


244  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  n 

different  aspect  as  we  view  it  from  the  side  of  the  masters  or 
from  the  side  of  the  men.  From  the  latter  point  of  view  it  is 
a  simple  and  almost  a  closed  trade,  consisting  of  skilled  work- 
men of  a  very  conservative  type ;  from  the  latter  it  is  essenti- 
ally complex  and  progressive,  a  great  industry  requiring  large 
capital  and  intelligence  of  the  highest  order,  and  depending  on 
very  delicate  commercial  combinations  and  economic  conditions 
which  are  essentially  variable  and  difficult  to  foresee,  dealing 
with  international  relations  of  cause  and  effect,  and  liable  to 
constant  surprises  due  to  the  continuous  development  of 
invention. 

The  miners  at  the  Berlin  Congress,  who  made  the  proposal 
already  quoted,  regarded  their  calling  as  a  small  industry  of 
the  old  type,  and  they  wished  to  reduce  it  to  the  old  pro- 
portions that  it  might  employ  some  thousands  of  men  only. 
They  wished  it  to  be  ruled  and  regulated  like  the  glass-blowing 
or  cutlery  trades.  They  complained  of  the  keen  competition 
among  merchants,  and  yet  where  would  they  be  unless  English 
merchants  competed  successfully  for  supplying  the  Baltic  with 
coal,  or  for  exporting  to  France  and  Spain,  or  for  supplying 
the  merchant  navy — unless,  in  fact,  they  were  always  ready  to 
compete  anywhere  and  everywhere  ? 

Nevertheless  their  desires,  although  they  do  not  point  to 
the  true  remedy,  yet  indicate  with  precision  the  nature  of  the 
malady  they  are  intended  to  cure,  which  is  but  too  real. 
So  long  as  the  collier  remains  specialised  and  conservative,  so 
long  as  he  claims  to  have  a  right  to  work  in  collieries  and  no- 
where else,  so  long  will  crises  due  to  irregularity  of  employ- 
ment be  a  constant  menace  and  burden.  There  is  little  chance 
that  he  will  lose  this  character  so  long  as  the  trade,  in  so  far 
as  he  is  concerned,  remains  faithful  to  the  primitive  methods 
we  have  seen  at  work. 

It  is  to  indirect  methods  that  we  must  look  for  ameliora- 
tions, unless  in  the  improbable  event  of  a  revolution  in  the 
methods  of  extracting  coal.  English  and  a  large  proportion 
of  "Welsh  and  Scottish  miners  are  sufficiently  well  organised  to 
discover  and  apply  such  methods.  We  have  seen  that  they 
tried  to  find  one  in  .the  creation  of  small  holdings,  and  though 
the  attempt  presents  difficulties,  it  is  capable  of  being  carried 
into  execution  in  certain  cases.  It  might  be  possible  to 


CHAP,  v  IN  MINES  245 

develop  a  system  of  insurance  against  unemployment  by 
turning  in  this  direction  the  powerful  institutions  which 
already  exist.  Trade  Unions  are  from  one  point  of  view 
only  a  savings  bank,  enabling  a  group  of  men  to  exist  while 
out  of  work  for  a  long  period  if  they  decide  to  strike. 
Why,  if  arbitration  boards  render  strikes  less  frequent,  should 
not  the  Unions  apply  a  larger  proportion  of  their  funds 
to  meet  the  periods  of  unemployment  caused  by  imperious 
necessity  ? 

Mr.  Thomas  Burt,  M.P.,  speaking  at  the  Newcastle  Trade 
Union  Congress,  gave  the  members  a  piece  of  advice  which  is 
well  worth  repeating  here.  "  Never  trouble  yourselves  for  a 
moment  about  the  inevitable,  and  don't  bother  yourselves 
about  the  unattainable."  Unemployment  in  mines  is  inevit- 
able, especially  in  the  Midlands,  and  a  universal  reduction  of 
production  by  international  legislation  is  unattainable. 

It  is  from  another  side  that  efforts  must  be  made.  There 
is  no  need  for  the  miners  to  fold  their  arms  and  resign  them- 
selves to  the  inevitable.  They  have  won  too  much  already  by 
means  of  organisation,  intelligence,  and  practical  common  sense, 
to  fail  utterly  before  this  obstacle.  As  soon  as  they  realise 
that  they  must  go  round  it  instead  of  overthrowing  it,  they 
will  be  able  to  discover  more  efficacious  means  than  my  inex- 
perience can  suggest.  As  I  have  already  said,  the  best 
organised  Unions,  those  affiliated  to  the  Federation  and  those 
of  Durham  and  Northumberland,  have  at  their  head  real 
diplomatists  and  statesmen.  To  these  leaders  belongs  the 
task  of  defending  the  interests  committed  to  their  charge 
against  the  dangers  which  menace  them.  The  peace  of  Europe 
is  often  threatened  but  rarely  disturbed,  thanks  to  the  diplo- 
matists who  smooth  away  the  difficulties  which  arise.  The 
various  states  are  harassed  by  internal  disorders  and  maladies, 
but  their  respective  governments  apply  more  or  less  efficacious 
palliatives  which  usually  arrest  crises.  It  is  in  the  power  of  any 
group  of  interests  which  is  seriously  represented  to  do  as  much. 
The  arbitration  boards  supply  the  diplomatic  machinery  of  the 
Federation  which  has  long  since  proved  again  and  again  that 
it  can  also  deal  with  internal  affairs.  Therefore  we  may  leave 
the  great  problem  of  unemployment  in  its  hands  with  full 
confidence  that  it  will  find  it  within  its  powers,  provided 


246  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  IN  MINES  PART  n 

only   that    it  abstains   from   seeking   a   solution  where   none 
exists. 

This  examination  of  their  demands  completes  our  study  of 
the  miners  of  Great  Britain.  With  them  we  leave  the  trades 
which  are  still  to  some  extent  organised  on  the  old  type.  We 
have  now  to  study  methods  of  production  which  have  accom- 
plished their  evolution  towards  the  modern  type,  which  is 
known  as  the  factory  system.  The  mines  partake  of  the 
character  of  both  types,  and  were  thus  specially  adapted  to 
serve  as  a  transition  between  the  small  trades  carried  on 
by  skilled  workers  and  the  large  factories  employing  unskilled 
workers. 


PAKT  III 

THE   LABOUK   QUESTION    UNDEE   THE 
FACTOEY    SYSTEM 

TRADES  WHICH  HAVE  ACCOMPLISHED  THEIR  EVOLUTION 


INTRODUCTION 

THE  factory  system  is  the  characteristic  form  assumed  by 
modern  industry.  We  have  great  factories  or  mills,  which 
mass  together  a  large  number  of  hands,  with  powerful  and 
complex  machinery  capable  of  executing  the  work  formerly 
entrusted  to  highly  skilled  workers,  and  requiring  nothing  but 
intelligent  supervision. 

The  factory  system  marks  the  advent  of  a  new  era  and  of 
an  important  transformation  in  the  worker.  The  member  of 
the  old  closed  trade  guild  has  seen  his  technical  skill  ceasing 
to  be  of  value  to  him,  and  has  been  replaced  by  chance 
individuals  who  possess  no  technical  knowledge  and  have 
served  no  apprenticeship.  The  first  result  was  a  sense  of 
humiliation  and  depreciation  on  the  part  of  the  worker.  So 
far  as  his  quality  of  skilled  workman  was  concerned,  he  had 
sunk  to  the  level  of  other  men. 

But,  at  the  same  time,  a  new  horizon  opened  before  him. 
The  breaking  down  of  the  barrier  which  had  grown  up  round 
his  particular  trade  gave  an  outlet  to  his  general  aptitude 
and  his  personal  initiative.  In  proportion  as  his  technical 
aptitudes  diminished  in  value,  his  aptitudes  as  a  man  acquired 
a  new  efficiency,  so  that  the  modern  era,  which  began  among 
the  curses  of  the  workers,  has  really  been  a  means  of  emancipa- 
tion and  progress. 

The  continual  development  of  the  application  of  machinery 
has  contributed  to  modify  the  evolution  of  the  machine 
worker  in  the  direction  of  the  commercial  clerk.  The  clerk 
passes  easily  from  one  kind  of  commerce  to  another — from 
textiles  to  colonial  produce,  from  fancy  trades  to  furnishing — 
so  that  to-day  retail  trade  in  the  hands  of  men  of  first -rate 


250  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  HI 

ability  is  no  longer  confined  to  this  or  that  branch,  but  has 
ended  in  the  great  emporiums  we  are  familiar  with.  The 
manufacturing  trades  cannot  yet  claim  so  wide  an  area,  but 
just  as  the  clerk  passes  readily  from  one  counter  to  another, 
so  the  factory  hand  passes  easily  from  superintending  one 
machine  to  superintending  another — from  weaving  to  boot- 
making,  from  the  paper  mill  to  the  spinning  factory,  etc. 

In  the  new  conditions  created  by  machinery,  the  Labour 
Question  assumes  an  unforeseen  aspect,  and  is  complicated  by 
unexpected  problems,  while  at  the  same  time  old  difficulties 
disappear.  The  Trade  Union  movement  still  clings  in  many 
instances  to  the  defence  of  positions  which  can  no  longer  be 
defended  under  modern  conditions.  Even  the  trades  which  are 
least  compromised  hitherto,  and  still  hold  out,  are  at  the  mercy 
of  the  first  invention,  in  a  century  which  sees  the  birth  of  new 
ones  every  day.  Thus  it  is  that  the  glassinakers  and  cutlers 
still  struggle  successfully  for  their  ancient  privileges,  while  the 
typographers  and  plumbers  feel  themselves  seriously  menaced, 
and  the  hand-loom  weavers  and  lace-makers  have  wholly  dis- 
appeared before  machinery.  These  workers  of  the  old  type 
are  in  the  position  of  a  nation  which  should  persist  in 
defending  itself  behind  the  fortifications  of  Vauban,  or  the 
works  of  the  beginning  of  this  century,  while  the  latest  modern 
artillery  was  rendering  their  protection  vain.  All  measures 
inspired  by  this  conservative  and  short-sighted  policy  are 
doomed  to  fail  sooner  or  later. 

Our  study  of  collieries  revealed  a  hybrid  situation  where 
old  conditions  of  labour  were  combined  with  extremely  com- 
plicated methods  of  engineering,  and  were  governed  by  the 
general  conditions  of  the  factory  system.  There  Trade 
Unionism  partook  of  a  double  character.  The  vast  scale  of 
working,  the  highly-developed  commercial  side,  had  awakened 
in  the  miners  a  perception  of  the  higher  laws  to  which  masters 
and  men  were  alike  obliged  to  yield,  while  at  the  same  time 
their  position  as  specialists  kept  alive  the  old  notion  of  a  close 
corporation. 

The  factory  system  will  furnish  a  different  spectacle.  As 
its  evolution  proceeds,  as  labour  becomes  more  mechanical, 
the  workers  abandon  the  old  idea  of  specialism  which  no 
longer  protects  them,  and  seek  strength  elsewhere.  Their 


INTROD.  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  251 

combined  efforts  are  directed  full  at  the  modern  problem — 
how,  without  any  visionary  hopes,  to  organise  labour  in  such  a 
way  as  shall  tend  towards  amelioration,  towards  the  greater 
capacity  of  the  worker,  and  towards  the  representation  of  his 
true  interests. 

Nevertheless  the  result  is  not  attained  uniformly  in  all 
branches  of  the  factory  system,  for  all  are  not  equally 
despecialised,  and  the  evolution  of  the  worker  and  of  the 
Trade  Union  movement  is  everywhere  closely  bound  up  with 
the  evolution  of  labour. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  follow  the  steps  of  this  evolution 
in  the  different  industries,  but  such  an  undertaking  would 
require  an  exhaustive  study  of  industrial  activity  in  all  its 
branches,  and  would  exceed  the  limits  of  the  present  work. 
But  we  may  obtain  a  clear  idea  of  the  phenomenon  by 
examining  in  succession  one  of  the  most  highly  specialised 
branches  of  industry  organised  on  the  factory  system,  and  one 
of  the  least  specialised.  We  can  thus  appreciate  the  remark- 
able way  in  which  the  method  of  work  in  each  corresponds 
with  the  mode  of  organisation,  and  at  the  same  time  the  study 
of  those  furthest  advanced  along  the  lines  of  evolution  to-day 
will  enable  us  to  understand  the  direction  of  this  evolution. 

Among  the  industries  in  which  the  worker's  technical  skill 
still  holds  a  large  place,  the  most  important  and  character- 
istic is  iron-working.  Whether  in  metallurgy  properly  so  called, 
or  in  the  countless  applications  of  iron  to  the  construction 
of  ships,  locomotives,  or  machines,  it  is  necessary  to  employ 
skilled  workmen  who  have  served  a  long  apprenticeship.  It 
is  true  that  the  result  of  their  efforts  is  enormously  multiplied 
by  the  powerful  assistance  of  machinery,  but  it  is  they  who 
are  responsible  for  directing  this  effort  and  regulating  its 
employment  in  subordination  to  their  technical  knowledge. 
The  man  who  presents  an  enormous  mass  of  iron  destined  to 
become  a  driving  shaft  to  the  repeated  blows  of  a  steam- 
hammer  needs  exactly  the  same  nicety  of  judgment  as  the 
village  blacksmith  fashioning  a  bar  of  iron  with  his  ordinary 
hammer.  Both  are  skilled  workmen,  but  the  first  is  the  more 
highly  specialised,  since  he  is  able  to  control  a  far  greater  force. 
The  distinctive  mark  of  these  industries  is  that  the  object  of 
the  majority  of  aids  employed  is  to  place  a  considerable  force 


252  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

at  the  disposal  of  a  competent  workman,  possessing  the  quick 
perception  and  nicety  of  eye  which  comes  only  from  long 
habit  and  special  aptitude.  In  a  word,  the  machine  is  the 
servant,  the  man  is  its  master. 

At  the  other  end  of  the  scale,  where  modern  evolution  has 
advanced  furthest,  we  have  just  the  opposite  condition,  and  the 
worker  has  only  to  attend  to  the  machine.  He  feeds  it  with 
raw  material,  starts  it,  stops  it,  regulates  its  movements, 
but  it  is  the  machine  which  blindly  and  mechanically  performs 
the  work  for  which  its  constructor  designed  it.  An  excellent 
example  is  the  textile  industry,  where  ingenious  and  powerful 
machinery  employs  women  and  children,  dispensing  with  the 
long  preparatory  training  which  was  formerly  necessary  for  the 
fabrication  of  thread  or  stuffs  and  giving  employment  to  a 
large  proportion  of  unskilled  labourers. 

Thus,  by  studying  successively  the  iron  and  textile 
industries,  we  shall  have  the  extreme  terms  of  the  series  of 
changes  brought  about  by  machinery,  and  shall  be  able  to 
appreciate  the  influence  of  this  evolution  on  the  Labour 
Question  in  each  of  these  extreme  cases.  The  great  iron-works 
will  furnish  us  with  a  type  of  worker  quite  different  from  the 
iron-workers  of  Birmingham  or  the  cutlers  of  Sheffield.  The 
Labour  Question  is  different  for  each,  and  it  is  important 
to  determine  the  nature  of  the  problem  before  proceeding  to 
see  in  what  direction  a  solution  should  be  sought. 


CHAPTER    I 

THE   IRON    INDUSTRY 

Machinery  subordinated  to  the  Workman. 

ANY  study  of  the  iron  industry,  however  far  from  exhaustive, 
should  first  mention  the  foundries  where  the  mineral  is  worked. 
But  these  foundries  are  closely  connected  with  the  mines  where 
the  mineral  is  extracted,  and  from  the  point  of  organisation  of 
labour  and  organisation  of  the  workers  these  present  consider- 
able analogy  to  coal-mines.  Iron-miners,  like  coal-miners, 
belong  in  some  respects  to  the  modern  type  and  in  others  to 
the  ancient  type.  Iron -workers,  though  further  advanced 
along  the  new  lines,  are  still  kept  in  the  immediate  neighbour- 
hood of  the  mine  by  the  cumbrous  nature  of  the  material. 
They  are  therefore  much  more  closely  bound  to  the  soil  than 
ordinary  factory  hands,  and  thus  they  share  in  the  hybrid 
character  of  miners. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  those  industries  which  are  fed  with 
cast  iron  and  steel,  we  have  a  class  of  workers  belonging 
entirely  to  the  factory  type.  But  the  degree  of  despecialisation 
is  far  from  uniform  in  all  the  varieties  of  this  group.  For  the 
sake  of  order  we  shall  arrange  these  varieties  in  terms  of  the 
increasing  despecialisation  of  the  worker,  that  is,  in  terms  of 
their  degree  of  evolution. 

The  fabrication  of  special  machinery  comes  first.  It 
requires  a  highly  skilled  worker  to  set  up  these  ingenious 
contrivances  with  the  requisite  precision.  These  skilled 
workers  must  be  the  best  procurable,  in  order  to  satisfy  the 


254  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

requirements  of  an  exacting  class  of  customers.  We  shall  be 
able  to  appreciate  better  what  this  means  if  we  pay  a  visit  to 
the  vast  workshops  of  Platt  Brothers  at  Oldham,  the  largest 
makers  of  textile  machinery  in  the  world. 

I.   The  Construction  of  Machinery  used  in  Special  Trades. 
Weaving  and  Spinning  Looms. 

Oldham  is  one  of  those  manufacturing  towns  which  form 
an  unbroken  ring  around  Manchester,  and  feed  the  great  textile 
market.  Rochdale  and  Blackburn  are  quite  near,  and  the  whole 
country  bears  witness  to  almost  incredible  activity,  and  gives 
point  to  the  American  epigram  which  describes  England  as  a 
town  with  a  few  gardens  in  it.  Oldham,  however,  is  not  one  of 
the  gardens.  In  this  great  industrial  hive  Oldham  is  specially 
concerned  with  the  fabrication  of  the  various  machines  em- 
ployed in  the  textile  industry.  Under  the  direction  of  Platt 
Brothers  it  has  developed  enormously.  10,000  men  are 
employed  in  their  workshops.  Eight  locomotives  are  busy 
from  six  in  the  morning  to  eight  at  night  in  transporting  the 
finished  looms  along  the  special  line  to  Oldham  Station,  and  in 
bringing  back  coal  and  raw  material.  A  network  of  rails 
covers  the  ground  floor,  so  that  nearly  all  the  transport  is 
affected  by  steam,  and  trucks  can  load  or  unload  at  any  point. 

The  firm  has  not  been  content  to  rely  on  the  wrought 
and  cast  iron  and  steel  furnished  by  iron-founders.  Messrs. 
Platt  have  started  iron-founding  to  ensure  the  quality  of  the 
material  used  in  the  construction  of  their  looms,  and  mining  to 
supply  the  coal  for  their  workshops.  They  own  four  collieries 
between  Oldham,  Manchester,  and  Eochdale.  This  important 
firm,  with  its  complex  organisation,  is  clearly  an  example  of 
the  factory  system,  from  the  scale  of  its  workshops,  the  number 
of  its  employes,  the  magnitude  of  the  capital  employed,  and 
the  enormous  amount  of  work  turned  out.  The  looms  made 
by  Platt  Brothers  are  despatched  to  Europe,  Japan,  China,  India, 
Australia,  Brazil,  Mexico,  the  United  States,  and,  in  fact,  to  all 
the  countries  of  the  world. 

But  in  one  way  their  workshops  differ  from  the  most 
advanced  types  of  the  factory  system.  The  work  done  there  is 
of  an  extremely  delicate  and  technical  kind,  and  the  mounting 


CHAP,  i  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  255 

of  the  looms  in  particular  requires  great  care  and  the  most 
exact  finish  in  all  the  component  parts.  Every  workman  is  a 
specialist  A  significant  fact  in  proof  of  this  is  that  not  a 
single  woman  is  employed  by  the  firm.  The  young  woman 
who  enters  a  factory  to  earn  her  living  till  she  marries  would 
be  out  of  place.  There  is  no  room  for  occasional  hands  or 
casuals,  who  take  up  any  sort  of  work  to-day  to  drop  it  for 
something  else  to-morrow.  Every  workman  must  be  master  of 
his  business.  Except  the  porters,  who  are  superseded  as  far  as 
possible  by  lifts  and  locomotives,  almost  every  individual 
employed  by  the  firm  is  a  skilled  workman. 

Here  consequently  we  find  apprenticeship  flourishing  as  in 
trades  of  the  old  type,  though  it  is,  of  course,  greatly  modified 
by  the  different  conditions.  We  have  no  longer  an  apprentice- 
ship imposed  by  a  guild  jealous  of  its  privileges,  and  anxious 
to  close  its  doors  on  younger  men  and  to  regulate  their  enrol- 
ment, but  rather  an  apprenticeship  imposed  by  the  conditions 
of  labour  and  by  the  demand  for  technical  skill  of  a  high 
order. 

Apprenticeship  is  thus  freed  from  all  artificial  restraints. 
The  apprentices  of  Platt  Brothers  are  bound  by  no  contract, 
but  are  free  to  go  and  liable  to  dismissal.  They  are  retained 
by  the  compulsion  of  circumstances,  and  by  the  advantages 
which  they  desire  to  obtain  and  which  cannot  be  obtained 
otherwise.  On  leaving  school  at  fourteen  they  are  taken  on 
at  5s.  a  week,  with  an  increase  of  Is.  a  week  every  year, 
so  that  in  the  last  year  of  apprenticeship  they  are  getting  1 2s. 
a  week.  At  twenty-one  they  are  reckoned  as  workmen,  and 
paid  at  that  rate,  as  far  as  possible  by  the  piece,  and  nearly 
always  with  a  system  of  bonuses  which  increases  the  minimum 
salary  in  proportion  to  their  individual  skill 

Another  proof  of  their  specialised  character  is,  that  though 
looms  are  sent  out  unmounted  for  convenience  of  transport, 
yet  their  mounting  is  extremely  difficult,  and  can  be  done  only 
by  the  firm's  own  workmen,  and  Messrs.  Platt  do  not  guarantee 
the  efficiency  of  their  looms  unless  they  are  set  up  by  their  own 
people.  About  200  picked  workmen  are  told  off  for  this 
work,  and  are  constantly  employed  in  travelling  to  the  clients 
of  the  firm  for  this  purpose.  I  was  told  by  a  member  of  the  staff 
that  men  were  at  that  moment  in  the  Far  East,  and  that  even 


256  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

Japan  was  not  too  far  for  them  to  travel  in  order  to  guarantee 
the  proper  mounting  of  a  loom.  This  speaks  volumes  for  the 
skill  of  the  workmen  who  construct  them. 

Now,  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  these  workmen  have  no 
Trade  Union,  and  belong  to  no  association  for  protecting  their 
interests  against  their  employers.  In  1851,  at  the  end  of  an 
important  strike,  the  Union  was  entirely  crushed,  and  since 
then  Messrs.  Platt  have  forbidden  the  formation  of  any  such 
Union  among  their  employe's.  When  the  men  have  any 
suggestions  to  make,  they  send  a  deputation  to  their  masters, 
who  always  hear  it  with  attention.  Their  demands  are 
examined,  and  are  accepted  or  refused  as  seems  just,  but 
without  discussion.  It  is  the  system  of  grievances  of  the  old 
regime,  while  the  Union  aims  rather  at  the  effective  representa- 
tion of  the  interests  of  labour. 

The  absolute  position  of  the  masters,  so  exceptional  in  the 
labour  world,  is  explained  by  the  unique  position  of  the  firm. 
Although  it  is  not  the  only  English  house  of  the  kind,  it  is  far 
the  most  important.  It  has  no  rival  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Oldham,  and  has,  in  fact,  a  monopoly  of  this  branch  of  industry, 
which  it  has  raised  to  its  present  importance.  Workmen  who 
left  would  find  great  difficulty  in  disposing  of  their  special  skill 
elsewhere  on  equally  favourable  terms.  It  is  their  highly- 
specialised  character  which  makes  them  so  dependent  on  the 
great  firm  which  directs  and  employs  them.1 

It  must  be  remarked  that  the  world-wide  reputation  of 
the  firm  of  Platt  Brothers  has  hitherto  always  enabled  it  to 
solve  the  difficult  problem  of  constant  production.  There  are 
no  periods  of  unemployment  at  Platt's,  whose  men  are  assured 
not  only  of  well-paid  but  also  of  regular  work,  and  feel  that 
security  about  to-morrow  which  is  so  precious  to  the  man  who 

1  Frequently,  as  in  the  glass  industry,  the  possession  of  a  high  degree  of 
specialised  skill  enables  the  men  to  force  the  demands  of  their  Union  on  the 
masters.  Skilled  workmen  of  this  type  can  transfer  their  skill  to  other  masters  . 
without  impairing  its  value  thereby.  But  in  this  case  the  workmen's  skill 
requires  the  direction  of  Messrs.  Platt  to  complete  it.  In  other  words,  the  glass 
industry  is  a  trade  in  which  no  very  sensible  progress  is  made,  and  the  workmen 
know  all  its  secrets,  while  the  construction  of  looms  is  an  industry  in  which  con- 
stant progress  is  made,  and  in  which  the  part  played  by  the  employer  cannot  be 
dispensed  with.  This  is  why  an  employer  of  real  talent  must  always  attach  his 
men  to  his  own  fortunes. 


CHAP,  i  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  257 

lives  from  day  to  day.  Here,  then,  is  a  second  cause  of  the 
close  dependence  of  the  workmen  on  an  employer  who  guar- 
antees steady  work. 

"  Then  you  accumulate  stock  ?  "  I  inquired.  "  No,"  was  the 
reply,  "  it  would  be  quite  impossible  for  us  to  work  except  to 
order,  as  we  have  to  deal  with  clients  who  require  not  merely 
a  particular  loom  but  also  one  of  a  special  size  to  suit  their 
factories,  and  with  modifications  to  suit  their  individual  re- 
quirements. Further,  there  are  the  constant  changes  intro- 
duced into  the  machinery  of  the  textile  trades,  which  would 
expose  us  to  the  risk  of  rilling  our  warehouses  with  old- 
fashioned  looms.  All  that  we  can  venture  to  make  in  advance 
is  what  clients  near  at  hand  require  for  repairs,  while  our 
more  distant  clients  naturally  prefer  to  have  repairs  done  on 
the  spot." 

I  asked  how  the  firm  managed  to  prevent  slack  times. 
"  Hitherto,"  was  the  reply,  "  we  have  always  had  too  many 
orders.  These  orders  are  very  important  and  their  execution 
involves  delay,  but  our  clients  prefer  to  wait  and  have  looms 
of  our  making  instead  of  getting  served  more  quickly  else- 
where. Generally  we  have  six  months'  work  in  hand." 

Thus  the  exceptional  relation  between  the  employe's  of 
this  firm  and  the  heads  of  the  firm  clearly  results  from  the 
exceptional  position  of  the  firm,  which  is  master  of  the 
market  in  a  very  unusual  degree.  As  a  result  it  can  impose 
its  own  terms  on  its  men,  since  it  is  the  only  channel  through 
which  work  can  be  obtained. 

The  firm  of  Platt  Brothers  is  practically  in  the  privileged 
position  of  the  holders  of  a  patent.  Its  origin  is  connected 
with  that  of  mechanical  looms.  The  father  was  an  ordinary 
workman  who  afterwards  set  up  a  small  workshop,  where  he 
worked  with  five  or  six  assistants.  Later  on,  having  found  a 
partner  with  capital,  he  was  able  to  develop  his  business  and 
to  introduce  continual  improvements  tending  to  save  labour, 
and  by  the  unceasing  exercise  of  his  inventive  power,  aided 
by  the  men  he  had  gathered  round  him,  to  turn  out  more 
and  more  perfect  machinery.  His  sons  continue  to  do  the 
same,  and  are  thus  able  to  retain  the  first-class  reputation 
created  by  the  father. 

A  first-class  reputation  is  all-important  in  a  trade  like  this. 

8 


258  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

The  firm  produces  machinery  for  one  of  the  giant  modern 
industries,  and  consequently  it  is  concerned  only  with  rich 
clients,  to  whom  it  furnishes  the  means  of  production.  Such 
clients  can  afford  to  pay  for  the  best  possible  machine,  and 
will  accept  no  other.  Inferior  machinery  would  mean  ruin, 
and  consequently  they  deal  only  with  a  first-class  firm.  In 
other  trades,  where  the  clientele  is  varied,  inferior  and  adulter- 
ated products  may  find  a  market.  Second-rate  machinery 
finds  none,  and  second-rate  firms  disappear  while  the  others 
achieve  a  brilliant  triumph.  This,  then,  in  the  case  of  Platt 
Brothers,  is  the  first  element  of  success,  and  a  very  consider- 
able one. 

Another  important  cause  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  supplies 
machinery  for  a  trade  which  is  developing  enormously.  We 
shall  see  later  how  the  textile  industry  has  grown  during  the 
present  century.  This  explains  the  gigantic  scale  of  the 
works  of  Messrs.  Platt.  Not  only  did  the  intelligence  and 
energy  of  the  original  founder  render  the  firm  superior  to  all 
rivals,  but  the  sphere  of  activity  thus  opened  has  widened 
beyond  all  anticipation. 

This  prosperity  has  affected  many  of  those  who  were 
originally  in  the  employ  of  the  firm,  and  has  enabled  them  to 

rise  in  the  world  and  make  large  fortunes.  Mr.  C told 

me  that  one  of  the  directors  who  had  recently  died,  leaving  a 
fortune  of  £553,000,  had  begun  life  as  a  workman.  Another, 
still  living,  was  an  ordinary  unskilled  labourer  in  1851, 
unable  either  to  read  or  write.  He  educated  himself  as  best 
he  could  at  evening  schools  and  public  libraries,  and  to-day 
he  is  head  of  the  engineering  department. 

Picked  men  have,  therefore,  undoubtedly  found  excellent 
opportunities  of  rising  in  the  world.  Have  the  rank  and  file, 
those  who  will  live  and  die  ordinary  workmen,  gained  any- 
thing by  this  enormous  industrial  development?  What  is 
the  position  of  the  men  in  the  employ  of  Platt  Brothers? 
This  question  is  worthy  of  serious  investigation  at  a  time 
when  our  ears  ring  with  the  denunciations  of  capitalism  and 
the  unjust  division  of  profit  between  capital  and  labour.  We 
have  seen  how  much  is  gained  by  the  workers  who  become 
capitalists,  but  what  is  their  lot  if  they  remain  ordinary 
workmen  ? 


CHAP,  i  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  259 

We  have  seen  in  the  small  trades  that  the  men  are  more 
or  less  successful  in  defending  the  remnants  of  their  industrial 
monopoly,  of  which  the  evolution  of  industry  undoubtedly 
tends  to  dispossess  them.  They  still  retain  some  of  their  old 
privileges,  and  though  their  stronghold  is  seriously  threatened 
they  will  continue  to  hold  it  until  it  is  definitely  overthrown. 

The  miners  are  at  once  the  most  and  least  fortunate.  On 
the  one  hand,  they  find  their  ground  cut  from  under  their  feet, 
owing  to  the  large  and  complex  scale  on  which  mines  have  to 
be  worked,  requiring  large  capital  as  well  as  technical  know- 
ledge far  superior  to  the  endowments  of  an  ordinary  workman. 
On  the  other  hand,  they  have  created  an  organisation  which 
puts  at  their  disposal  a  force  hitherto  unknown.  Although 
they  cannot  rise  to  the  position  of  employers,  they  can  at  least 
treat  with  employers  on  equal  terms.  They  can  affect  con- 
sumers directly  by  ordering  a  suspension  of  work.  They  have 
more  than  a  negative  share  in  the  direction  of  this  industry, 
as  is  shown  by  the  provisions  of  the  treaties  signed  at  the  end 
of  the  great  coal  strike. 

Here,  on  the  other  hand,  the  influence  of  the  men  dis- 
appears before  the  overwhelming  importance  of  the  employers. 
If  the  latter  consent  to  receive  deputations  and  to  hear  the 
grievances  of  their  subordinates,  it  is  clearly  stated  that  it  is 
an  act  of  benevolent  condescension,  and  that  their  reply  will 
be  in  accordance  with  what  they  think  it  just  to  do.  No  doubt 
their  sense  of  justice  is  a  very  enlightened  one,  and  they  are 
animated  by  the  most  praiseworthy  sentiments,  but  neverthe- 
less their  men  are  defenceless  and  the  situation  is  not  unlike 
a  benevolent  despotism.  Such  at  least  is  what,  on  the  face  of 
things,  would  seem  to  be  the  position. 

But  let  us  see  what  is  the  real  position  of  the  workmen. 
I  saw  them  leaving  the  works  at  mid-day,  and  though  wearing 
their  working  clothes  they  presented  an  unmistakably  respect- 
able appearance.  Those  who  lived  near  were  going  home  for 
dinner,  others  who  lived  too  far  away  went  to  neighbouring 
bars.  Messrs.  Platt,  aware  of  the  temptations  offered  by  bars, 
are  building  a  dining-room  capable  of  accommodating  1700 
persons.  This  is  only  one  of  many  signs  of  a  strong  reaction 
against  the  national  vice  of  drunkenness.  I  was  told  by  Mr. 
C that  drunkenness  is  on  the  decrease  in  Oldham,  and 


260  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

though  he  cordially  acknowledges  the  praiseworthy  efforts  of 
temperance  societies,  he  thinks  it  is  largely  due  to  the  various 
means  of  improvement  which  have  been  brought  within  the 
reach  of  the  working  class.  The  spread  of  education,  technical 
schools,  musical  societies,  athletic  clubs,  and  free  libraries  have 
done  much  in  this  direction.  Men  who  have  other  interests 
do  not  find  it  hard  to  give  up  whiskey  and  gin.  These  lower 
pleasures  appeal  chiefly  to  those  who  cannot  find  other  and 
higher  ones.  To  preach  temperance  without  offering  some 
attractive  occupation  for  a  man's  leisure  hours  is  in  every 
case  waste  of  time.  Thus  an  increase  in  sobriety  indicates  a 
happy  tendency  towards  better  habits,  and  proves  that  we  are 
dealing  with  a  class  which  is  rising  in  the  social  scale,  thus 
shaking  our  unfavourable  impression  of  the  conditions  of 
labour  in  this  industry. 

Let  us,  however,  proceed  further.  In  answer  to  my 
inquiries  about  the  housing  of  the  men,  I  was  informed  that 
many  of  them  own  their  own  houses.  Many  Building  Societies 
exist  to  facilitate  this,  and  are  working  satisfactorily.  Accord- 
ing to  my  information,  a  working-class  dwelling  consisting  of 
four  rooms — two  on  the  ground-floor  and  two  upstairs — with  a 
small  yard,  can  be  bought  for  £150  to  £180.  The  separate 
four-roomed  house  for  each  family  is  the  usual  type,  as  may 
be  seen  by  a  walk  through  the  town.  An  ordinary  family 
would  consider  it  intolerable  to  be  overcrowded  to  the  same 
extent  as  the  Fishers.  If  the  Fishers  with  their  eight  children 
lived  in  Oldham,  they  would  never  dream  of  packing  them- 
selves into  two  rooms,  but  instead  of  spending  only  2s.  a 
week  on  rent  they  would  occupy  a  house  at  a  rent  of  5s.  or 
6s.  a  week.  Taking  into  account  the  difference  in  the  value 
of  property,  it  may  be  reckoned  that  a  working-class  family  in 
Oldham  spends  twice  as  much  on  rent  as  a  working-class  family 
in  Eosewell  under  the  same  conditions. 

Such  a  state  of  things  certainly  does  not  point  to  a  popula- 
tion ground  down  by  the  tyranny  of  employers.  Men  who 
want  a  comfortable  home  and  can  generally  manage  to  obtain 
it  do  not  seem  in  much  need  of  pity,  and  at  the  same  time 
they  prove  that  they  are  capable  of  making  a  good  use  of 
their  earnings.  Improvident  and  dissipated  men  never  have 
the  means  to  keep  their  family  in  greater  comfort,  and  it  is 


CHAP,  i  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  261 

much  if  they  can  provide  for  pressing  necessities.  They 
certainly  are  not  eager  to  burden  themselves  with  a  heavy 
rent,  and  are  quite  incapable  of  making  the  sacrifices  necessary 
for  acquiring  a  house,  even  with  the  facilities  afforded  by 
Building  Societies  in  the  shape  of  advances,  long  credit,  and 
graduated  annual  instalments.  The  fact  that  many  workmen 
own  their  own  houses,  and  that  almost  all  live  in  relatively 
large  ones,  is  strongly  in  their  favour. 

We  shall  also  find,  in  Oldham  as  elsewhere,  the  thrifty 
workman  who,  not  content  with  owning  his  own  house,  buys 
property  in  the  shape  of  one,  two,  or  more  houses.  We  have 
already  considered  the  good  and  bad  side  of  this.  On  the  one 
hand,  it  indicates  superior  qualifications  on  the  part  of  the 
working  man  landlord  for  rising  out  of  his  class,  and  from  this 
point  of  view  it  is  very  encouraging.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
is  a  variety  of  the  sweating  system,  the  exploitation  of  the 
tenant  by  a  hard  and  exacting  landlord  who  is  not  in  a  posi- 
tion to  make  improvements  in  his  property,  and  sometimes  not 
even  to  keep  it  in  repair.  The  sweating  system  in  its  industrial 
form  is  due,  as  we  have  seen,  to  the  existence  of  insufficiently 
qualified  employers,  and  we  have  here  an  analogous  pheno- 
menon, the  insufficiently  qualified  and,  if  we  may  use  the 
expression,  premature  landlord. 

Side  by  side,  however,  with  this  low  form  of  capitalism 
there  is  another  which  raises  the  thrifty  and  foreseeing  work- 
man to  the  rank  of  a  director  of  labour,  without  opening  the 
door  to  exploitation  of  the  kind  just  mentioned.  It  deserves 
special  attention,  and  will  complete  our  enlightenment  as  to 
the  social  status  of  Messrs.  Platt's  men. 

On  my  first  visit  to  Oldham  I  had  heard  that  a  consider- 
able number  of  them  were  interested  in  co-operative  spinning 
concerns,  and  I  was  anxious  to  obtain  further  information  on 
this  important  point.  I  was  able  to  verify  what  I  had  heard, 
and  I  found  that  the  case  of  working  men  capitalists  using 
their  capital  in  industrial  enterprises  was  a  common  one.  The 
foremen  in  the  employment  of  Messrs.  Platt,  the  confidential 
agents  who  set  up  the  looms  sent  out  by  the  firm  to  its 
customers,  and  a  large  number  of  others,  are  not  only  in  the 
employ  of  Messrs.  Platt,  but  employers  on  their  own  account. 
The  statement  about  co-operation  was  not  strictly  accurate. 


262  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  HI 

Co-operation  means  that  an  individual  engaged  in  a  certain 
industry  shares  the  profits  of  that  industry  with  his  fellow- 
workmen.  The  employe's  of  Messrs.  Platt  are  more  or  less 
directly  employers  in  a  different  industry.  This  is  not  what 
is  generally  understood  by  co-operation,  but  the  confusion  of 
terms  on  the  part  of  my  original  informants  was  due  to  the 
combination  of  employer  and  employed  in  the  same  individual. 
The  real  facts  are  that  several  spinning  mills  in  Oldham  are 
financed  on  the  principle  of  joint -stock  companies.  The 
shares  are  small,  from  £1  to  £5  each.  These  small  concerns, 
which  are  within  the  reach  of  workmen's  means,  and  which 
were  established  to  furnish  them  with  an  investment,  have 
succeeded  admirably  in  doing  what  they  were  intended  to  do, 
and  there  are  many  spinning  mills  in  Oldham  where  all  the 
capital  is  derived  from  investments  of  this  kind.  The  pheno- 
menon, though  not  co-operative,  is  none  the  less  interesting, 
and  it  throws  a  brilliant  light  on  the  real  prosperity  of  many 
working-class  families,  as  well  as  on  the  superior  qualifications 
of  the  heads  of  them. 

It  is  no  small  undertaking  to  manage  a  spinning  mill. 
Those  which  are  carried  on  at  Oldham  under  the  conditions  I 
have  just  described  are  not  by  any  means  the  largest,  but 
none  employ  less  than  75,000  spindles,  and  most  of  them  as 
.many  as  100,000.  Generally  they  are  managed  by  a  com- 
mittee of  five  or  six,  or  at  most  seven,  persons,  who  appoint  a 
manager.  This  committee  meets  frequently,  and  keeps  a  keen 
eye  on  the  business.  The  manager's  position  is  often  difficult. 
He  has  not  sufficient  authority  to  venture  on  a  prompt  and 
advantageous  stroke,  for  the  committee  keep  a  tight  hand  over 
him  and  leave  him  very  little  freedom  of  action.  Everything 
has  to  be  referred  to  them,  so  that  the  manager  is  not  ready 
for  any  emergency  as  the,  head  of  an  industrial  concern  must 
be.  This  disadvantage,  which  is  inseparable  from  joint -stock 
companies,  is  aggravated  when  the  shareholders  belong  to  the 
working  class,  for  they  frequently  take  short  views  and  are 
disposed  to  be  jealous  of  their  manager. 

These  spinning  mills  are  not  always  very  prosperous. 
They  suffer  from  the  competition  of  large  mills  under  inde- 
pendent management,  and  take  only  a  second  place.  A  fore- 
man in  the  employ  of  Messrs.  Platt  told  Mr.  C that  out 


CHAP,  i  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  263 

of  1700  shares  he  had  in  spinning  mills  only  half  brought 
him  a  dividend.  Lest  the  phenomenon  should  be  unduly 
exaggerated,  it  should  be  remarked  that  many  of  these  spinning 
mills  do  not  get  all  the  capital  they  require  from  the  share- 
holders. Many  of  them  contract  large  loans,  and  in  several 
cases  half  the  working  capital  is  borrowed.  Thus  reduced  to 
its  just  proportions,  this  example  illustrates  the  disadvantage 
of  divided  capital  and  of  impersonal  management  under  the 
factory  system,  while  it  also  exhibits  an  interesting  example 
of  the  way  in  which  working  men  acquire  industrial  property. 

Undoubtedly  these  managing  committees,  where  working 
men  at  the  end  of  their  day's  work  discuss  the  carrying  on  of 
a  business,  are  not  in  most  cases  a  direct  means  of  making  a 
fortune.  Nevertheless  they  are  an  important  means  of  eleva- 
tion, and  though  the  men  may  fail  to  make  a  large  profit  out 
of  their  venture,  they  at  any  rate  acquire  valuable  experience 
and  learn  a  useful  lesson.  They  know  that  thrift  is  not 
everything,  but  that  ability  is  needed  to  turn  thrift  to  account. 
Their  own  abilities  develop  as  they  are  gradually  initiated  into 
the  difficulties  of  industrial  management.  They  learn  by  their 
mistakes  what  to  avoid,  and  many  an  employer  has  been 
trained  in  this  school. 

It  is  interesting,  thus  early  in  our  study  of  the  factory 
system,  to  note  this  opportunity  for  a  thrifty  and  intelligent 
workman  to  acquire  industrial  property.  The  works  of  Messrs. 
Platt  have  shown  an  apparent  depreciation  in  the  position  of 
the  workman,  who  is  not  only  deprived  of  any  rights  of  owner- 
ship in  his  own  trade — which  is  characteristic  of  the  factory 
system — but  is  hindered  by  circumstances  from  organising  the 
representation  of  his  own  interests  as  against  his  employer's, 
to  whom  he  would  seem  to  be  handed  over  bound  hand 
and  foot.  The  only  thing  that  remains  his  own,  his  pro- 
fessional skill,  is  precisely  what  makes  him  so  dependent  on 
his  employer,  who  alone  is  able  to  render  it  productive  by 
finding  employment  for  it.  Under  these  very  unfavourable 
conditions,  which  we  shall  nowhere  else  find  in  the  same 
degree,  we  see  what  the  workman  has  gained  by  the  modern 
evolution  of  industry,  and  the  vaster  horizons  which  have 
opened  to  him  where  machinery  has  destroyed  the  old  system 
of  organisation. 


264  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

It  is  useful  to  direct  attention  to  this  point,  in  view  of 
the  regret  sometimes  expressed  for  a  bygone  state  of  things. 
Working  men  are  too  ready  to  listen  to  these  useless  lamenta- 
tions, and  sometimes  groan  over  the  loss  of  their  former 
independence  and  their  enregimentation  in  huge  factories, 
without  sufficiently  considering  the  superior  independence  to 
which  many  of  them  have  risen  under  the  new  regime.  Where 
would  Messrs.  Platt  have  been  unless  their  father  had  had  at 
his  disposition  the  powers  and  resources  of  modern  industry  ? 
Where  would  their  customers  be  without  the  universal 
development  of  spinning  and  weaving,  not  merely  in  England 
but  throughout  the  world  ?  Messrs.  Platt  would  be  obscure 
blacksmiths  in  a  small  village,  supplying  a  local  and  restricted 
clientele,  and  the  highest  object  of  their  ambition  would  be  the 
acquisition  of  their  house  or  of  a  little  ground  near  it,  or  else 
they  would  have  followed  the  example  of  their  compatriots 
and  would  have  sought  in  a  distant  land  employment  for  the 
energy  which  was  useless  at  home. 

Or  even  without  speaking  of  those  who  have  reached  the 
top  of  the  ladder,  and  who  are  now  at  the  head  of  a  great 
factory,  is  it  nothing  for  the  rank  and  file  to  find  profitable 
employment  for  their  second-rate  abilities,  and  to  be  better 
paid,  better  housed,  better  fed,  and  better  clothed,  than  they 
used  to  be?  There  are  10,000  men  in  regular  employment 
in  the  works  of  one  firm,  earning  5s.  a  week  at  the  age  of 
fourteen,  when  they  are  weak  and  ignorant,  with  a  sure  pros- 
pect of  rising  to  30s.  or  £2,  and  with  a  chance,  if  they  are 
sufficiently  capable,  of  becoming  foremen.  Look  at  the  houses 
they  own,  and  the  families  they  bring  up,  the  leisure  due  to 
reduction  in  the  hours  of  work,  the  good  use  they  make  of  it, 
the  spread  of  education,  the  diminution  of  drunkenness,  and 
compare  it  with  Dickens's  picture  of  the  English  working 
classes  in  1840. 

Of  course  material  misery  and  moral  degradation  may  still  be 
found  in  the  manufacturing  centres  of  England.  But  not  only 
are  they  much  rarer  in  the  great  industrial  hives  like  Oldham, 
Leeds,  Blackburn,  Bradford,  and  Bolton,  than  among  the 
mixed  population  of  London,  Liverpool,  and  Glasgow,  and  not 
only  has  there  been  undoubted  progress  in  this  respect  during 
the  last  thirty  years,  especially  in  Lancashire,  but  further, 


CHAP,  i  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  265 

there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  chronic  state  of  wretchedness 
in  many  working-class  families  is  the  result  of  vice,  in- 
temperance, and  imprudence,  and  not  of  abnormal  conditions 
of  labour.  In  the  works  of  Messrs.  Platt,  where  work  has 
never  been  interrupted  since  the  strike  of  1851,  and  where 
the  men  have  regular  and  well-paid  work,  this  is  too  self- 
evident  to  need  demonstration.  It  would  be  unjust  in  the 
highest  degree  to  throw  upon  a  large  factory  or  mill  the 
responsibility  for  individual  faults  or  accidents  of  an  ex- 
ceptionally serious  character,  which  cause  suffering  to  particular 
families. 

However,  there  is  a  darker  side  to  the  picture  which  must 
not  be  disguised.  We  have  already  referred  to  the  benevolent 
despotism  which  would  seem  to  be  the  system  under  which 
Messrs.  Platt's  works  are  organised,  and  it  might  be  added 
that  the  men  are  somewhat  in  the  position  of  happy  slaves. 
This  does  not  imply  any  reflection  upon  the  management 
of  the  works,  for  it  is  entirely  owing  to  circumstances  that 
such  relations  have  grown  up  between  masters  and  men,  and 
it  is  the  special  character  of  the  industry  which  is  responsible 
for  them.  Messrs.  Platt's  men  are  treated  with  the  greatest 
kindness  and  consideration,  but  they  are  entirely  dependent 
on  their  employers.  They  are  certain  of  regular  employment, 
and  have  not  to  dread  being  thrown  out  of  work,  but  this 
regularity  of  employment  is  due  to  their  employers,  and  to  the 
improvements  which  they  are  constantly  introducing.  In 
themselves  they  are  only  docile  instruments,  they  have  not  the 
direction  of  their  life,  and  they  are  deprived  of  the  training 
which  is  supplied  by  the  keen  and  constant  struggle  of  modern 
existence.  Their  happiness  is  guaranteed  by  a  power  above 
them,  it  is  out  of  their  own  control,  and  consequently  it  rests 
on  a  very  unstable  foundation. 

This  is  where  the  danger  lies.  We  shall  shortly  see  what 
difficulties  workmen  have  to  surmount  in  other  industries  to 
avoid  unemployment,  and  comparing  their  position  with  the 
security  of  Messrs.  Platt's  men,  we  shall  understand  better 
how  serious  a  matter  it  would  be  if  this  quietude  were 
disturbed.  Nevertheless,  such  a  thing  is  always  possible,  if 
the  inventive  power  of  the  employers  gives  out  for  a  moment, 
or  if  a  fortunate  rival  finds  out  a  new  improvement. 


266  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

We  have  next  to  examine  the  branches  of  the  iron 
industry  connected  with  the  machinery  used  in  transport. 
Here  the  demand  increases  as  the  importance  of  skilled 
workmen  decreases,  and  the  Labour  Question  assumes  a  new 
aspect. 

% 

IT.   The  Construction  of  Machinery  used  for  Transport. 
Locomotive  Works  and  Shipbuilding  Yards. 

We  have  not  now  to  deal  with  the  construction  of 
machinery  to  be  used  in  factories,  nor  with  the  manufacture  of 
articles  of  ordinary  use.  The  clientele  is  no  longer  so  homo- 
geneous, nor  so  rich,  nor  so  constantly  on  the  look-out  for  the 
best  machine,  as  in  the  first  case,  but  neither  is  it  so 
heterogeneous  as  in  the  second  case.  It  purchases,  not  an 
article  of  consumption,  but  an  instrument.  The  locomotive  is 
an  instrument  belonging  to  the  railway  company,  and  a  ship 
is  an  instrument  belonging  to  the  shipowner. 

This  instrument,  however,  is  no  longer,  as  in  the  last 
example,  applied  to  production,  and  therefore  its  quality  is  not 
of  the  same  importance.  The  transport  of  commodities  can  be 
effected  with  indifferent  locomotives,  without  the  consignee 
suffering  in  any  way.  In  the  case  of  ships,  especially,  the 
customer  cannot  always  afford  to  go  to  the  best  houses. 
There  are  vessels  in  the  small  coasting  trade  which  are 
not  affected  by  the  competition  of  the  great  lines,  because 
they  do  not  supply  the  same  wants.  Thus  the  clientele 
changes  its  character  and  becomes  at  once  wider  and  more 
mixed. 

Turning  now  to  the  men,  we  find  that  relatively  to  the 
last  example  their  position  is  modified  in  two  important  re- 
spects. In  the  first  place,  the  number  of  despecialised  workers 
is  greater.  Skilled  workmen  are  still  in  the  majority,  but  side 
by  side  with  them  we  shall  find  individuals  engaged  in  attend- 
ing to  ingenious  machines,  which  enable  them,  without  any 
previous  apprenticeship,  to  turn  out  work  which  would  formerly 
have  required  the  assistance  of  skilled  workmen.  Secondly, 
in  the  case  of  the  skilled  workmen,  the  specialism  is  not 
confined  within  such  narrow  limits.  In  the  first  place,  no 
house  engaged  in  the  construction  of  locomotives  or  ship's 


CHAP,  i  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  267 

engines  holds  such  a  unique  and  commanding  position  in  its 
own  line  as  the  firm  of  Platt  Brothers  holds  in  the  construction 
of  looms.  For  reasons  just  shown,  smaller  works  exist  side  by 
side  with  the  more  important  ones,  so  that  men  can  find 
openings  for  their  technical  skill  in  many  different  establish- 
ments. In  the  second  place,  this  technical  skill  can  equally 
readily  be  employed  in  many  different  branches.  The  term 
"  engineer  "  is  a  very  wide  one,  and  the  engineer  is  in  possession 
of  a  wide  field  of  activity,  and  is  no  longer  closely  dependent 
on  a  given  clientele  and  a  single  employer.  This  fact  sensibly 
modifies  the  nature  of  apprenticeship  and  the  representation 
of  the  interests  of  labour. 

The  first  of  these  points,  the  reduction  in  the  number  of 
skilled  workmen,  fixes  the  position  of  this  industry  in  the 
general  evolution  of  labour,  and  also  corresponds  to  a  relatively 
recent  series  of  transformations. 

There  was  a  very  serious  strike  of  the  Amalgamated 
Union  of  Engineers  in  1851,  only  a  few  months  after 
its  foundation,  to  resist  the  introduction  of  labour-saving 
machinery.1  Of  course  it  was  powerless  to  arrest  the  progress 
of  machinery,  and  even  precipitated  what  it  sought  to  prevent 
by  leading  masters  to  dispense  as  far  as  possible  with  exacting 
specialists. 

I  paid  a  visit  to  the  Brightside  Works  of  Messrs.  Jessop 
and  Sons,  in  Sheffield.  I  saw  immense  driving  shafts  intended 
for  ships  of  the  largest  size,  fashioned  by  a  steam  hammer. 
The  workman  in  charge  of  it  was  a  skilled  workman  of  great 
experience,  and  it  was  most  interesting  to  see  him  directing  the 
operations  of  four  men  with  large  hooks,  who  moved  the  heavy 
mass  of  iron  on  its  supports,  in  order  to  give  it  the  proper 
position  for  receiving  the  repeated  blows  of  the  gigantic 
hammer.  Further  on,  axles  for  locomotives  were  in  course 
of  construction,  and  toothed  wheels  for  various  machines. 
Messrs.  Jessop  also  make  some  of  the  parts,  either  the  most 
cumbrous  or  the  most  difficult,  of  engines  which  are  finished 
and  put  together  in  other  works.  It  might  be  supposed  that 
only  skilled  workmen  would  be  employed,  and  it  is  true  that 

1  The  history  of  this  strike  is  given  in  the  Comte  de  Paris's  work  on 
Les  Associations  Ouvrteres  en  Angleterre,  and  brings  into  prominence  the  evolu- 
tion which  was  then  taking  place  in  the  construction  of  machinery. 


268  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

they  are  in  the  majority,  but  not  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others. 
There  were  men  engaged  in  superintending  a  machine  which 
with  slow  and  steady  movement  traced  regular  grooves  in  a 
broad  thick  bar  of  steel,  and  further  on  a  machine  caught  up 
other  bars  and  cut  them  into  portions  of  perfectly  equal  size, 
out  of  which  would  be  made  screws,  bolts  and  wedges. 
Then  there  was  an  endless  variety  of  piercing  and  boring 
machines,  which  made  holes  of  every  size  and  shape  in  bars 
of  metal  whether  thick  or  thin,  and  others  which  planed  and 
polished  and  cut  iron  and  steel  as  a  joiner  cuts  wood. 
Evidently  the  men  who  superintend  such  machines  are  not 
skilled  workmen  in  the  same  degree  as  those  who  forge 
driving  shafts  or  axles,  but  they  require  discernment  in  order 
to  apply  the  powerful  force  at  their  disposition  with  judgment. 
They  are  not  mere  unskilled  labourers,  but  they  are  no  longer 
picked  workmen,  as  is  shown  by  their  rate  of  wages.  While 
picked  men  earn  as  much  as  £2  a  week  or  even  more,  most  of 
the  others  do  not  exceed  30s.,  while  common  labourers  earn 
much  less. 

I  have  already — when  speaking  of  the  cutlers — had 
occasion  to  remark  that  the  artizan  population  of  Sheffield  has 
been  much  modified  by  the  foundation  of  great  works  like 
those  of  John  Brown,  or  Camell,  or  Jessop.  A  new  element 
of  non-skilled  workers  and  labourers  was  introduced,  and  led 
to  a  considerable  influx  of  Irish  labourers,  who  now  number 
about  16,000,  out  of  a  total  population  of  330,000. 

The  locomotive  works  of  Beyer  and  Peacock,  at  Gorton, 
near  Manchester,  occupy  about  2000  hands.  There  too,  of 
course,  skilled  workmen  predominate,  especially  as  this  firm 
devotes  the  greatest  care  to  the  work.  I  mentioned  to  Mr. 
Peacock — who  very  kindly  accompanied  me  through  the 
works — that  I  had  visited  the  Baldwin  Works  in  Philadelphia, 
and  he  pointed  out  to  me  a  number  of  details  which  illustrated 
the  difference  between  the  more  delicate  English  methods  and 
the  rougher  American  ones.  "  We  want  more  finish,"  he  said  ; 
"  and  we  frequently  use  copper  where  they  use  iron  or  steel." 
Such  conditions  are  favourable  to  skilled  workmen,  and  yet 
even  in  this  industry,  where  the  proper  working  of  an  engine 
depends  entirely  on  the  utmost  precision  of  construction  and 
putting  together,  unskilled  labourers  find  employment.  Boilers, 


CHAP,  i  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  269 

for  instance,  are  formed  of  broad  plates  fastened  together  with 
numerous  rivets,  and  each  of  these  rivets  is  introduced  in  an 
incandescent  state  into  holes  pierced  by  machinery,  and 
flattened  on  each  side  by  means  of  a  powerful  machine  which 
crushes  it  and  gives  the  head  the  required  shape.  The 
operation  is  performed  so  rapidly,  that  if  you  stand  for  a  few 
minutes  beside  the  man  in  charge  of  the  machine  you  may  see 
the  plates  gradually  form  a  strong  and  well-knit  whole.  It  is 
also  due  to  machinery  that  boilers  have  been  provided  with 
the  multitubular  apparatus  which  makes  them  work  more 
regularly.  Had  the  brass  trade  clung  to  its  old-fashioned 
methods,  we  should  never  have  had  the  seamless  tubes  of 
which  the  apparatus  is  formed. 

Thus  the  factory  worker's  field  of  activity  is  not  only 
widening,  to  the  detriment  of  the  old  skilled  worker,  but  it  is 
also  developing  unforeseen  applications  due  to  new  methods 
of  working. 

It  is  particularly  interesting  to  notice  this  result  in  a 
factory  whose  reputation  rests  on  the  finish  of  its  work. 
Beyer  and  Peacock  do  not  supply  a  local  clientele,  and  cannot 
therefore  retain  it  through  mere  proximity.  They  keep  it,  as 
they  acquired  it,  by  the  recognised  superiority  of  their  work. 
Mr.  Peacock  told  me  that  90  per  cent  of  their  orders  came 
from  abroad,  that  they  had  at  one  time  supplied  Sweden  and 
Holland,  and  still  sent  out  orders  to  Australia,  New  Zealand, 
India,  and  the  Argentine  Republic.  I  saw  a  completed 
locomotive  to  which  was  attached  the  cow-catcher  used  on  the 
United  States  railways  to  keep  cattle  off  the  unenclosed  line. 
I  remarked  that  that  was  certainly  not  for  English  use,  and 
was  told  that  it  was  going  to  Brazil. 

The  shipyards,  like  the  locomotive  yards,  have  gained 
foreign  custom  by  the  excellence  of  their  products.  It  would 
seem  that  they  must  be  entirely  staffed  by  skilled  workmen, 
and  men  of  very  great  technical  skill  are  certainly  found.  I 
remember  a  blacksmith  in  the  Fairfield  Works  in  Glasgow, 
who  was  judging,  entirely  by  eye,  whether  a  strong  steel 
plate  was  properly  curved,  and  submitting  it  anew,  if 
necessary,  to  the  action  of  the  machine,  to  bring  it  to  the 
shape  desired.  This  man's  nicety  of  eye  constituted  part 
of  his  value,  and  he  was  in  a  sense  an  artist.  But  side  by 


270  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

side  with  such  men  there  are  others  who  are  rather  intelligent 
individuals  than  professionals,  and  such  work  as  piercing  and 
fixing  metal  plates,  making  the  innumerable  screws  required, 
and  bolting  the  different  pieces  together,  is  done  almost 
mechanically.  It  is  chiefly  upon  the  mechanical  engineer 
that  the  really  technical  part  falls.  The  skilled  workman 
played  a  far  greater  part  in  building  the  old  wooden  ships 
than  in  constructing  the  iron  monsters  which  have  superseded 
them.  The  Lucania  and  Campania,  the  most  recent  of  the 
Cunard  mail  steamers,  and  the  largest  vessels  which  have  ever 
crossed  the  Atlantic,  were  built  in  the  Fairfield  yards.  The 
new  methods  tend  more  and  more  to  substitute  iron  for  wood 
in  the  details  of  their  construction.  I  noticed  long  cones 
made  of  steel  plates  joined  two  and  two  by  their  bases.  These 
were  metal  yards,  and  it  seems  that  the  old  wooden  yard  has 
disappeared.  It  used  to  be  carefully  chosen  from  wood  of  the 
best  quality,  and  every  care  was  used  to  secure  the  utmost 
lightness  without  any  diminution  of  strength,  which  necessitated 
conditions  of  cut,  age,  dryness,  etc.,  implying  the  co-operation 
and  care  of  several  connoisseurs.  The  wooden  yard  could  not 
be  made  at  a  moment's  notice,  but  now  it  requires  only  a  few 
hours  to  construct  a  yard  out  of  plates  of  sheet  steel.  The 
difference  is  obvious. 

Wood,  however,  holds  its  own  in  the  internal  fittings  of  a 
ship,  where  elaborate  cabinetmaker's  work  has  replaced  rough 
shipwright's  work  in  the  cabins.  I  am  speaking,  of  course,  of 
iron  vessels,  and  not  of  the  old-fashioned  ones  which  are  still 
used  for  some  purposes.  In  the  joiners'  shops  attached  to  the 
Fairfield  yards  I  saw  men  working  American  yellow  pine  and 
mahogany,  and  using  all  sorts  of  quick  and  powerful  machinery 
to  effect  their  work.  Mortises,  which  play  such  an  important 
work  in  joinery,  are  cut  in  a  few  seconds  by  steam  chisels,  and 
the  planing  is  also  done  by  machinery.  Thus  joiners  can,  by 
these  means,  keep  the  delicate  parts  of  the  work,  and  leave  the 
rest  to  men  possessing  no  great  experience. 

In  short,  when  we  observe  closely  the  great  locomotive 
works  and  shipyards,  where  one  would  expect  to  find  skilled 
workmen  masters  of  the  situation,  we  see  that  they  are  far 
from  monopolising  these  trades,  although  they  certainly  pre- 
dominate. For  this  reason  these  trades  rank  after  the  works 


CHAP,  i  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  271 

of  Messrs.  Platt,  where  the  skilled  workman  plays  an  all- 
important  part.  If  we  consider  the  skilled  workmen  them- 
selves, we  find  their  specialism  is  of  a  less  narrow  type,  as  has 
already  been  pointed  out.  This  we  shall  now  consider. 

The  construction  of  locomotives  is  concentrated  in  a  small 
number  of  important  and  well-known  establishments,  but  none 
of  these  is  so  completely  master  of  the  clientele  that  its  men 
are  entirely  dependent  upon  it.  If  they  are  dismissed  by  one 
firm  they  can  go  to  another,  so  that  their  special  skill  does  not 
put  them  at  an  employer's  mercy  as  in  the  case  of  Platt's  men. 
The  same  is  true  of  shipyards.  It  would  be  a  mistake  to 
suppose  that  great  shipbuilding  yards  like  those  of  Armstrong 
in  Newcastle,  or  the  Fairfield  Works  in  Glasgow,  are  the  only 
establishments  of  the  kind.  In  every  port  a  large  number  of 
more  modest  firms  may  be  found,  which  construct  ships  of 
smaller  tonnage  and  execute  repairs,  and  smaller  firms  of  still 
less  importance  engaged  in  constructing  and  repairing  boilers. 
Engineers  of  the  same  type  as  those  who  work  in  the  large 
yards  employing  10,000  or  14,000  men  are  also  employed 
here. 

Take  for  example  the  firm  of  Clover,  Clayton,  and  Company 
at  Birkenhead,  who  call  themselves  shipbuilders,  shipsmiths, 
and  joiners.  They  employ  from  1 50  to  900  men,  and  undertake 
to  repair  any  damage  sustained  by  ships  which  come  into  the 
port  of  Liverpool.  This  is  their  ordinary  line,  but  they  also 
frequently  buy  an  unseaworthy  ship  which  has  been  wrecked 
or  seriously  damaged,  repair  it  at  their  own  expense,  and  sell 
it.  They  buy  such  ships  on  any  part  of  the  English  coast,  and 
along  the  French  coast  as  far  as  Marseilles.  Such  ventures 
are  sometimes  very  profitable,  and  they  have  the  further 
advantage  of  supplying  work  in  slack  times  for  men  whom  the 
firm  does  not  wish  to  dismiss. 

Most  of  the  men  employed  are  skilled  mechanics,  so  much 
so  that  Messrs.  Clover  and  Clayton  take  apprentices.  At  the 
time  of  my  visit  their  apprentices  numbered  20  shipbuilders, 
15  boiler-makers,  4  joiners,  4  blacksmiths,  6  engineers,  and  5 
improvers.  Improvers  differ  from  ordinary  apprentices  in 
having  already  served  their  time,  and  wishing  to  learn  the 
niceties  of  their  trade  with  another  firm.  In  Liverpool  they 
often  come  from  Scotland,  and  remain  two  years  as  improvers. 


272  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

They  receive  14s.  to  16s.  a  week,  while  apprentices  begin  at 
4s.,  and  do  not  earn  more  than  lls.  in  their  last  year.  They 
are  really  workmen  who  recognise  the  insufficiency  of  their 
apprenticeship,  and  are  willing  to  devote  two  years  more  to 
learning  their  trade.  After  two  years  as  improvers  they  will 
earn  30s.  to  36s.  a  week,  or  sometimes  as  much  as  £2.  In 
busy  times,  when  obliged  to  work  overtime,  they  earn  consider- 
ably more,  as  overtime  is  reckoned  at  half  as  much  more,  and 
sometimes  at  twice  the  ordinary  rate,  when  an  urgent  job 
makes  it  necessary  to  work  on  Sundays  or  on  a  holiday. 

Unskilled  labourers,  who  do  the  cleaning  and  rough  work, 
only  earn  4s.  or  4s.  6d.  a  day,  that  is  from  24s.  to  27s.  a 
week,  for  a  nine  hours  day.  This  shows  the  higher  degree  of 
skill  which  the  workmen  possess,  and  the  greater  value  of 
their  labour. 

While  in  Liverpool  I  also  visited,  in  company  with  a 
naval  engineer,  several  boiler-makers'  works,  where  I  also  found 
skilled  workmen.  One  of  them  employed  80  persons,  and 
represented  one  extreme,  the  other  being  represented  by 
Fairfield  Works. 

Let  us  now  take  an  example  where  shipbuilding  is  not 
the  only  work  done.  The  Ledsam  Works,  managed  by  Messrs. 
Gr.  E.  Bellis  and  Company  of  Birmingham,  make  engines  for 
small  vessels,  torpedoes,  pumps,  and  apparatus  for  electric 
lighting.  The  Eoyal  Navy  is  one  of  their  most  important 
clients,  but  they  also  do  a  large  trade  in  connection  with  the 
electric  light.  This  illustrates  what  has  already  been  said, 
that  in  this  trade  a  skilled  workman  can  transfer  himself,  not 
merely  from  one  employer  to  another,  but  also  from  one  branch 
to  another.  Messrs.  Bellis  take  apprentices,  who  thus  acquire 
skill  of  wide  range.  They  are  apprenticed  for  five  years,  and 
begin  at  4s.  a  week,  as  in  most  engineering  firms.  They  get  a 
rise  of  2s.  a  year,  which  gives  them  14s.  a  week  in  their  last 
year,  when  they  have  reached  the  age  of  twenty-one.  As  full 
workmen  the  cleverest  earn  from  30s.  to  £2  a  week,  and  are 
men  of  the  same  type  as  we  saw  with  Beyer  and  Peacock, 
and  Clover  and  Clayton,  at  the  Fairfield  Works,  and  with  the 
Liverpool  boiler-makers. 

All  these  houses  differ  in  one  important  respect  from  that 
of  Platt  Brothers.  In  all  of  them  employment  is  irregular 


CHAP,  i  UNDER  THE  FA CTOR Y  SYS TEM  273 

and  there  are  continual  changes  in  the  number  of  the  staff. 
At  the  time  of  my  visit  to  Gorton,  Mr.  Peacock  told  me  he  was 
employing  only  1500  men,  though  sometimes  he  has  as  many 
as  2300,  and  is  occasionally  obliged  to  organise  night-shifts. 
Needless  to  say,  it  is  impossible  to  accumulate  stock  in  this 
industry. 

It  is  also  impossible  in  the  shipbuilding  trade,  but  long 
orders  and  the  custom  of  the  Government  and  of  the  great 
navigation  companies  prevent  any  considerable  danger  of 
unemployment  in  the  cases  of  the  largest  and  best  known 
shipbuilding  firms.1  As  the  importance  of  the  firm  diminishes, 
unemployment  becomes  more  serious,  and  it  is  felt  with  extra- 
ordinary severity  in  repairing  yards.  At  Brightside  Works  in 
Sheffield  there  are  often  1000  men,  but  at  the  time  of  my 
visit  there  were  only  800,  although  the  nature  of  the  works 
admits  of  some  accumulation  of  stocks  in  periods  of  depression. 
At  Ledsam  Works  the  number  of  the  staff  varies  from  200  to 
300,  and  the  number  of  men  employed  by  Clover  and  Clayton 
varies  from  150  to  900.  Forty  of  these,  as  we  have  seen, 
were  apprentices,  which  leaves  about  100  workmen  whom 
the  firm  is  anxious  to  keep,  and  for  whom  it  tries  to  find 
work  when  there  are  no  orders  in  hand.  It  is  with  this  object 
that  the  firm  buys  up  unseaworthy  ships,  which  are  repaired 
at  odd  times  with  the  reduced  permanent  staff.  On  the  day 
of  my  visit  there  was  only  a  single  ship  on  the  stocks,  while 
next  week,  I  was  told,  there  might  be  one  in  each  dock.  "  As 
many  as  3000  men,"  my  informant  added,  "are  sometimes 
employed  by  a  shipbuilding  firm  in  the  neighbourhood,  and 
to-day  you  will  only  find  the  apprentices  and  the  foremen."  I 
asked  what  became  of  the  men  who  were  dismissed  in  this 
summary  fashion,  and  whether  they  would  turn  to  unskilled 
labour,  and  work  as  dockers,  let  us  say,  while  out  of  work. 
"  Such  a  thing  is  very  rare,"  was  the  reply,  "  and  rather  than 
take  such  an  extreme  measure  they  go  to  other  seaports,  where 

1  It  must  not  be  forgotten,  however,  that  these  large  shipbuilding  firms 
experienced  a  terrible  crisis  about  thirty  years  ago.  One  of  them,  Mr.  Samuda, 
stated  about  1868  that  of  all  the  shipbuilding  firms  in  existence  before  1851  his 
own  was  the  only  one  which  had  not  failed,  and  that  he  himself  had  been  obliged 
to  reduce  his  staff  from  2000  to  200  men.  The  great  firms  of  to-day  are  also  not 
insured  against  such  risks.  (Les  Associations  ouvrteres  en  Angleterre,  Germer- 
Baillere,  1869,  p.  207.) 

T 


274  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

there  may  be  a  chance  of  finding  employment  as  mechanics. 
If  they  find  nothing  in  England  they  will  go  to  Scotland  or 
Ireland,  and  we  ourselves  have  often  brought  men  from 
Cumberland  or  Scotland.  Of  course  we  offer  them  some 
advantages  to  induce  them  to  make  the  change,  such  as 
guaranteeing  to  keep  them  for  five  or  six  months.  This,  of 
course,  is  only  when  the  demand  for  labour  here  is  in  excess  of 
the  supply,  or  when  we  are  resisting  excessive  demands  on  the 
men's  part  during  strikes.  In  the  latter  case  we  apply  to  non- 
unionist  men  if  we  can  find  them,  but  the  Unions  are  extremely 
powerful." 

The  direct  result  of  this  irregularity  of  employment  is 
shown  by  the  existence  of  associations  for  the  defence  of  the 
interests  of  the  labourer.  Messrs.  Platt  were  able  to  crush 
such  attempts  because  they  were  able  to  guarantee  regular 
work  to  their  staff,  and  consequently  that  security  for  the 
morrow  which  is  the  first  and  most  serious  of  a  workman's 
interests.  In  the  industries  with  which  we  are  at  present 
concerned  no  employer  can  do  this,  for  he  is  unable  to  accumu- 
late stock,  and  directly  orders  do  not  come  in  regularly,  he 
must  regulate  the  number  of  his  staff  by  the  orders  he  has  in 
hand.  No  philanthropic  or  benevolent  sentiments  can  inter- 
fere with  this  necessity  in  his  case.  The  workman  must  be 
prepared  for  these  sudden  interruptions  and  for  being  thrown 
out  of  work,  and  his  Union  is  one  of  the  means  to  which  he 
looks.  The  Unions  help  to  keep  up  wages,  notwithstanding 
the  tendency  of  the  variations  of  supply  and  demand  to 
modify  them.  They  also  keep  a  man  informed  of  the  state  of 
the  labour  market,  and  offer  him  better  chances  of  employ- 
ment by  showing  him  where  trade  is  brisk  for  the  time  being. 
They  also  organise  the  preliminary  agitation  for  certain  legis- 
lative measures,  from  which  many  working  men  hope  for  great 
results.  The  Trade  Union  movement  is,  consequently,  strongly 
marked  in  these  industries.  I  was  told  at  the  Brightside 
Works  that  all  the  men  belonged  to  the  Union,  and  it  was 
the  same  in  all  the  other  firms.1 

The  Unionist  movement  owes  its  efficiency  to  the  circum- 

1  The  Amalgamated  Union  of  Engineers  has  35,000  members,  and  the  Ship- 
wrights' Associated  Society  has  13,456.  These  figures  are  the  official  ones  given 
at  the  Trades  Union  Congress  of  1893. 


CHAP,  i  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  275 

stances  which  gave  birth  to  it.  The  men  are  able  to  treat 
with  their  employers  on  a  footing  of  equality,  because  their 
specialism  is  less  narrow  than  in  the  case  of  the  men  engaged 
in  constructing  textile  machinery,  and  can  therefore  be  more 
readily  transferred  from  one  firm  to  another,  or  even  into 
other  related  industries.  This  adaptability  is  the  key  to  the 
situation,  and  Trade  Unions  facilitate  and  organise  it  in  the 
best  possible  way.  They  step  in  and  help  the  workman  to 
change  his  front  and  to  profit  by  circumstances,  and  they  wean 
him  from  the  old  idea  of  maintaining  stability  by  limiting 
the  number  of  apprentices  and  erecting  artificial  barriers  around 
a  trade. 

It  is  true  that  this  antiquated  spirit  has  not  yet  entirely 
disappeared  in  the  iron  trades.  It  is  shown  by  energetic 
claims,  which,  however,  are  powerless,  because  they  are  directed 
against  the  tide  of  circumstances.  We  shall  see  this  when 
we  come  to  examine  the  bearing  of  the  proposals  for  labour 
legislation  put  forward  by  the  Trades  Union  Congress.  Here 
it  will  be  enough  to  notice  the  numerous  proposals  for  pre- 
venting men  from  working  as  engineers  without  a  special 
certificate,  to  be  granted  either  by  their  Union  or,  as  some 
propose,  by  a  Commission. 

Thanks,  however,  to  the  practical  spirit  of  English 
mechanics,  the  Amalgamated  Union  of  Engineers  has  proved 
an  effective  instrument  for  defence  and  representation,  when- 
ever its  efforts  have  been  directed  towards  possible  reforms, 
and  in  favour  of  claims  compatible  with  the  new  situation. 
The  diminution  of  the  hours  of  labour  and  the  increase  in 
wages  are  among  the  fruits  of  its  labours. 

The  widening  of  the  workman's  specialism  has  affected  the 
conditions  of  apprenticeship.  We  have  seen  that  Messrs. 
Platt's  apprentices  are  not  bound  to  their  employer  by  any 
contract.  The  apprentice  knows  it  is  to  his  master's  interest 
to  keep  him  as  the  length  of  his  apprenticeship  increases, 
because  an  apprentice  who  is  no  longer  a  raw  beginner  works 
at  a  cheap  rate.  The  employer  knows  it  is  to  the  apprentice's 
interest  to  remain,  because  at  the  end  of  his  apprenticeship  he 
will  reap  the  fruit  of  his  labour  by  remaining  in  the  service 
of  a  first-class  firm,  where  the  staff  is  never  reduced  and 
where  unemployment  is  unknown. 


276  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

Here,  on  the  other  hand,  the  apprentice  could  not  be  sure 
that  he  would  not  be  dismissed,  in  a  period  of  depression, 
by  an  employer  who  did  not  want  to  work  at  a  loss.  The 
employer  would  not  be  sure  that  an  apprentice,  who  had  cost 
him  something  during  the  first  two  or  three  years  of  his 
apprenticeship,  might  not  go  and  finish  his  time  with  a  rival 
firm,  just  when  the  work  he  could  do  for  a  small  wage  was 
beginning  to  compensate  for  the  sacrifices  his  employer  had 
made.  Under  these  conditions  a  special  agreement  is  required 
which  shall  be  binding  on  both  sides,  and  this  explains  why  in 
most  engineering  firms,  like  G.  E.  Bellis  and  Clover  and 
Clayton,  we  generally  find  the  formal  indentures  of  apprentice- 
ship. The  artificial  link  is  strengthened  because  the  natural 
link  is  so  weak. 

If  we  now  compare  the  position  of  the  men  engaged  in 
the  construction  of  locomotives  and  in  shipbuilding  with  that 
of  Messrs.  Platt's  men,  we  shall  find  they  possess  a  marked 
advantage  in  the  increased  facilities  for  advancement  which  the 
more  capable  possess.  These  industries  are  further  advanced 
along  the  line  of  evolution,  and  contribute  in  a  much  more 
powerful  manner  to  the  elevation  of  those  engaged  in  them. 

In  the  first  place,  the  men  are  not  lulled  into  inactivity 
by  the  certainty  that  work  will  always  be  forthcoming,  as 
Messrs.  Platt's  men  might  be.  The  latter  works,  as  we  have 
said,  have  never  had  to  stop  work  for  more  than  forty  years ; 
but  this  exceptional  circumstance  is  due  to  two  special  causes, 
the  inventive  genius  of  the  heads  of  the  firm,  and  the 
remarkable  development  of  the  textile  industry  during  the  last 
half-century.  It  is  almost  a  monopoly,  but  not  quite,  for  there 
are  a  few  competing  firms.  If  any  one  of  these  were  to 
introduce  a  new  improvement  this  monopoly  would  be  seriously 
endangered,  and  it  might  be  altogether  destroyed  by  an  un- 
foreseen invention.  Then  what  would  become  of  the  10,000 
men  who  have  become  accustomed  to  count  upon  regular  and 
well-paid  work  ? 

The  problem  with  which  they  would  then  be  confronted 
is,  however,  familiar  to  the  men  engaged  in  the  trades  under 
discussion.  It  is  their  daily  preoccupation,  and  for  most  of 
them  it  constitutes  the  whole  of  the  Labour  Question.  Many 
of  them  solve  it,  and  in  a  highly  satisfactory  manner. 


CHAP,  i  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  277 

I  questioned  a  foreman  in  the  employ  of  Clover  and 
Clayton  who  is  now  in  a  position  of  confidence,  and  he  told 
me  that  he  entered  the  shipbuilding  trade  on  leaving  school, 
served  his  apprenticeship,  and  had  since  worked  in  different 
towns.  His  migrations  from  place  to  place,  while  still  only  a 
mechanic,  seem  to  have  left  no  bitter  memories.  Probably 
he  had  sufficient  foresight  to  provide  against  temporary  periods 
of  unemployment,  and  his  reputation  as  a  good  workman  very 
likely  secured  him  work  in  preference  to  others.  At  the 
present  moment  he  has  regular  work  of  a  superior  kind. 

Many  of  his  comrades  rise  still  higher  and  become  em- 
ployers, a  step  which  is  facilitated  by  the  existence  of  small 
firms.  In  the  construction  of  textile  machinery  such  an  attempt 
would  be  attended  with  the  utmost  difficulty.  Messrs.  Platt's 
men  find  an  opening  in  trades  outside  their  own,  as,  for  example, 
in  managing  spinning  mills.  In  their  own  trade  they  cannot 
hope  to  rise  higher  than  foremen  or  managers,  and  even  when 
they  display  qualities  of  the  highest  order  they  do  not  set  up 
for  themselves,  but  only  swell  the  staff  of  the  firm. 

But  in  the  shipbuilding  trades  all  employers  are  not  great 
capitalists.  There  are  many  grades  among  them,  and  con- 
sequently it  is  less  difficult  to  become  independent.  Most 
men  start  by  repairing  ships.  Messrs.  Clover  and  Clayton's 
foreman  quoted  cases  where  men  had  started  in  this  line 
without  having  either  wood  or  tools  of  their  own,  hiring  the 
necessary  machines  and  procuring  wood  on  credit.  I  inquired 
how  ships  could  be  refitted  except  in  dock.  "  That  can  be 
hired  too,"  was  the  reply ;  "  there  are  plenty  to  let  in  the  public 
docks,  and  it  is  quite  a  simple  matter  to  get  the  necessary 
accommodation.  Shipowners  also  are  often  ready  to  lend  a 
helping  hand.  It  is  to  their  interest  to  encourage  the  creation 
of  new  yards,  and  a  shipowner  who  can  trust  a  man  who 
wants  to  start  for  himself  can  often  help  him  considerably, 
not  merely  by  giving  him  orders,  but  also  by  paying  him  in 
instalments  in  proportion  to  the  progress  of  the  work.  Thus 
a  man  who  is  just  starting  can  pay  his  men  every  week  with- 
out being  forced  to  borrow  at  a  heavy  rate  of  interest.  Some- 
times such  a  man  will  find  a  moneyed  partner  who  is  willing 
to  make  a  good  profit  on  his  capital  with  the  assistance  of 
the  working  partner's  technical  qualifications.  There  are 


278  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

various  means,  and  not  much  capital  is  needed  to  make  a 
start."  Even  with  ironclads  there  is  still  room  for  small 
firms.  Boilers,  pumps  and  other  parts  may  be  repaired  or 
replaced  separately.  The  shell,  too,  often  needs  trifling  repairs 
and  repainting.  Then  there  are  all  the  small  shore  boats  for 
the  land  service,  coasting  vessels,  and  the  swarm  of  small 
crafts  which  the  great  steamers  do  not  in  any  way  interfere 
with,  but  rather  tend  to  increase,  by  developing  transport  by 
sea.  This  supplies  an  important  amount  of  custom,  which 
does  not  seem  at  all  likely  to  disappear.  Thus  the  uncertainty 
due  to  irregularity  of  work  is  compensated  for  by  the  increased 
facility  of  rising  to  the  position  of  employer. 

There  is  also  a  further  advantage  which  the  workman 
enjoys.  Engineering  has  many  branches,  as  we  saw  in  the 
case  of  Messrs.  G.  E.  Bellis,  and  this  wider  sphere  gives  him 
a  better  chance  of  employment  in  times  of  depression.  If 
shipbuilding  is  dull  he  can  work  at  some  of  the  other  branches 
connected  with  it  which  are  less  affected,  or  at  new  and 
successful  special  lines.  This  is  the  best  guarantee  against 
unemployment.  It  is  to  this  that  working  men  should  look 
to-day  when  trade  is  so  unstable.  They  must  not  trust  to 
any  one  trade  to  the  exclusion  of  others,  but  must  look  only 
to  themselves,  and  regard  any  trade  open  to  them  as  another 
means  at  their  disposition  for  supplying  their  daily  wants,  and 
for  rising,  if  possible,  out  of  the  working  class. 

It  is  easy,  too,  to  see  that  notwithstanding  the  coming 
and  going  which  results  from  the  conditions  of  labour  in  the 
repairing  yards  skilled  mechanics  generally  live  in  comfort  in 
English  seaport  towns.  At  Birkenhead  only  about  5  or  6 
per  cent  own  their  houses,  and  it  is  easy  to  understand  that 
they  hesitate  to  tie  themselves  to  a  place  when  they  are  so 
often  obliged  to  shift  from  one  dockyard  to  another.  The 
high  price  which  houses  fetch  may  also  be  an  obstacle.  A 
small  six-roomed  house  is  worth  £200  and  lets  for  about  7s. 
a  week.  This  is  a  high  rent,  but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  living  in  Birkenhead,  opposite  Liverpool,  enables  a 
mechanic  to  find  work  in  the  numberless  dockyards  which  owe 
their  existence  to  the  enormous  traffic  of  this  port.  Birken- 
head owes  its  existence  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Liverpool, 
and  a  few  years  ago,  within  the  memory  of  Messrs.  Clover 


CHAP,  i  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  279 

and  Clayton's  foreman,  it  was  only  a  village.  Now  it  has 
100,000  inhabitants,  and  since  the  construction  of  the  Mersey 
Tunnel  it  is  to  all  intents  and  purposes  a  suburb  of  Liverpool. 
In  the  early  days  of  its  prosperity  Building  Societies  enabled 
a  certain  number  of  working  men  to  acquire  houses  on  good 
terms,  but  now  the  increased  value  of  land  makes  it  more 
difficult.  Birkenhead,  however,  has  in  its  turn  created  a 
number  of  artisan  villages  in  its  neighbourhood,  and  the 
smaller  rents  lead  many  working-class  families  to  settle  in 
the  quarters  about  the  railways,  which  put  them  into  quick 
and  constant  communication  with  the  docks. 

I  visited  several  working-class  houses  at  Miles  Platting, 
a  quarter  of  Manchester.  Many  of  them  are  occupied  by 
families  where  the  father  is  employed  in  some  of  the  iron- 
works in  the  neighbourhood.  The  district  between  Miles 
Platting  and  Gorton  bears  witness  to  great  activity  in  the 
iron  trade.  I  wished  to  inspect  the  more  modest  dwellings, 
belonging  to  families  less  well  qualified  to  rise  in  the  world. 
The  Eoman  Catholic  priest  of  St.  Edmund's  kindly  assisted 
me  in  my  task  and  took  me  into  the  Irish  quarter.  It  was 
Saturday,  the  general  cleaning  day,  a  fact  which  may  have 
given  me  too  favourable  an  impression.  I  had,  however, 
visited  the  East  End  of  London  on  a  Saturday  without 
seeing  any  such  sight.  Here  housewives  were  scrubbing  the 
floors,  cleaning  the  steps,  or  polishing  the  grates,  and  this  too 
in  struggling  homes  where  life  was  pinched  and  precarious. 
One  good  woman  apologised  for  the  untidiness  of  her  house  by 
explaining  that  she  had  just  been  bathing  the  children. 

The  scanty  accommodation  of  these  houses  shows  how 
little  comfort  the  family  can  manage  to  procure.  None  have 
cellars,  which  is  a  grave  defect  in  a  damp  climate.  They 
consist  of  two,  or  at  most  three,  rooms,  and  there  are  usually 
several  children.  Waste  matter  of  all  kinds  is  deposited  in  a 
small  place  at  the  back  of  the  house  and  taken  away  at  night 
by  scavengers'  carts.  Such  an  unsatisfactory  system  creates 
a  permanent  centre  of  infection,  no  less  unsanitary  than 
unpleasant.  We  are  far  indeed  from  model  working-class 
dwellings.  The  furniture  matches  the  houses.  A  scrap  of 
old  carpet  or  an  unrecognisable  oilcloth  on  the  floor  of  the 
principal  room  may  be  considered  as  a  luxury,  but  there  are 


a8o  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

not  enough  beds,  very  few  utensils,  and  the  chairs  are  often 
rickety.  Nevertheless  rents  are  rarely  less  than  3s.  6d.  a 
week,  though  many  houses  let  at  this  rent  are  not  so  good  as 
those  for  which  a  miner  in  the  Lothians  pays  only  2s.  a  week, 
with  a  flower-garden  and  a  kitchen-garden  included.  This  is 
the  price  which  must  be  paid  for  the  advantages  of  a  great 
city  like  Manchester,  and  though  it  is  heavy,  the  advantages 
are  considerable.  A  clergyman  told  me  that  young  girls  easily 
find  employment  in  factories  or  shops,  and  that  lads  can 
be  apprenticed  to  different  trades  while  continuing  to  live 
at  home.  They  are  not  driven  into  their  father's  trade  like 
miners'  sons,  but  their  special  abilities  may  be  utilised  in  iron- 
works or  spinning  mills,  or  in  one  of  the  numberless  forms  of 
trade.  Each  member  can  support  himself,  and  if  one  of  them 
is  thrown  out  of  work  in  one  trade  the  house  can  still  be 
carried  on  when  there  are  several  able-bodied  members. 

The  same  clergyman  told  me  that  in  his  parish  of  15,000 
souls  he  did  not  know  a  single  family  living  in  the  horrible 
flats  and  tenements  which  are  so  frequently  found  in  White- 
chapel,  Tower  Hill,  and  other  parts  of  London.  Every  family 
has  its  own  house,  humble  it  may  be  and  poor,  but  free  from 
the  degrading  promiscuity  of  tenements.  Sometimes  a  young 
couple  without  much  in  hand  will  rent  a  room  from  a 
struggling  family  which  finds  its  weekly  rent  too  heavy,  but 
such  an  arrangement  is  only  a  temporary  one,  to  enable  a 
young  couple  to  save  money  and  get  a  little  furniture  before 
children  come  and  oblige  them  to  take  a  house.  This  alone 
indicates  a  considerable  degree  of  prosperity  and  self-respect. 
I  saw  nothing  which  filled  me  with  the  same  pity  and  horror 
as  I  have  often  felt  at  the  spectacle  of  the  frightful  destitution 
of  London. 

Destitution  and  degradation  are  far  more  common  in  the 
small  trades  in  which  sweating  prevails  than  in  the  industries 
carried  on  in  large  factories.  Hence  the  East  End  of  London, 
which  swarms  with  small  workshops,  presents  a  sadder  spectacle 
than  this  quarter  of  Manchester  surrounded  by  works  of  every 
kind.  I  purposely  chose  the  most  densely  populated  town 
in  the  manufacturing  district  of  Lancashire,  and  the  class 
least  qualified  to  better  itself,  and  I  found  a  higher  level  than 
where  the  old  system  was  making  its  last  stand. 


CHAP,  i  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  281 

We  have  now  to  take  the  branches  of  the  iron  trade  which 
supply  ordinary  consumers,  and  here  we  shall  find  the  workers 
most  despecialised. 

III.  The,  Manufacture  of  Articles  of  Ordinary  Use. 

Every  one  has  heard  of  Coventry  since  cycling  became 
so  popular.  Some  of  the  best  English  bicycle  works  are  there, 
and  so  far  English  houses  command  the  market. 

Messrs.  Singer  and  Company's  factory  is  one  of  the  most 
important  in  Coventry,  and  this  I  visited.  Contrary  to  my 
expectations,  I  did  not  find  that  skilled  workmen  preponderated. 
Even  in  the  forging  department,  though  they  were  in  the 
majority,  they  were  not  the  only  ones.  Besides  experienced 
workmen,  I  saw  lads  of  fifteen  or  sixteen  who  seemed  to 
accomplish  their  task  quickly  and  properly.  I  inquired 
whether  they  were  apprentices,  and  was  told  that  no  appren- 
tices were  taken,  but  that  youths  began  at  5s.  a  week,  and 
received  an  increase  of  ^d.  or  Id.  an  hour  as  they  became 
more  experienced,  and  that  whenever  possible  they  were  paid 
by  the  piece. 

Thus  there  is  no  regular  apprenticeship.  The  older  men 
look  after  the  younger  ones  and  teach  them  to  handle  their 
tools,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the  foremen  to  initiate  them  into 
the  methods  employed,  but  no  contract  binds  the  apprentice 
to  his  employer,  and  there  is  no  compulsory  term  of  apprentice- 
ship. This  indicates  an  advanced  stage  of  despecialisation. 
Messrs.  Platt's  apprentices,  as  we  saw,  are  bound  by  no 
contract,  but  they  nevertheless  serve  the  full  seven  years. 
In  shipbuilding  and  locomotive  works  the  period  is  generally 
reduced  to  five  years,  but  it  is  still  the  authorised  mode  of 
entering  the  profession.  Here  it  has  entirely  disappeared, 
and  a  man  is  considered  qualified,  and  is  paid  as  such,  as 
soon  as  he  is  able  to  do  his  work  in  a  satisfactory  manner. 

The  other  departments  require  less  technical  knowledge 
than  the  forging  department.  I  saw  youths  using  a 
machine  to  pierce  holes  of  different  shape  in  little  cubes  of 
steel,  others  mechanically  tracing  the  grooves  to  admit  a 
screw,  and  others  making  the  screws.  Every  part  of  a 
bicycle  has  to  be  polished,  sometimes  again  and  again.  This 


282  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

is  done  by  unskilled  labourers  who  present  the  object  to  be 
polished  to  metal  brushes,  and  then  to  softer  and  softer  ones, 
which,  when  set  in  rapid  motion,  soon  remove  all  irregu- 
larities from  the  surface  of  the  metal.  The  frames  have  also 
to  be  enamelled,  and  the  fellies  of  the  wheels,  and  this  is  done 
by  placing  in  special  ovens  heated  by  gas  the  parts  which 
have  previously  been  covered  with  a  coat  of  liquid  enamel. 
The  handles  and  pedals  have  also  to  be  nickelled,  an  operation 
which  is  done  by  special  baths,  and  requires  nothing  but  a 
little  practice  and  care  on  the  workman's  part. 

Thus  the  manufacture  of  bicycles  offers  a  large  field  to 
unskilled  labour. 

There  is  another  respect  in  which  it  is  essentially  modern, 
and  differs  radically  from  the  old  closed  trade,  entrance  to 
which  was  difficult,  and  in  which  a  man  remained  till  he  died. 
It  is  a  trade  which  supports  a  man  during  part  of  the  year 
only,  and  if  it  were  jealously  barricaded  such  men  would  die 
within  the  barricades. 

Messrs.  Singer  and  Company  employ  about  700  men  in 
summer,  but  dismiss  a  large  part  of  their  staff  at  the  beginning 
of  winter.  "  You  see,"  said  one  of  the  directors,  "  cycling  is 
difficult  in  the  bad  season,  and  few  bicycles  are  bought  after 
October,  so  that  we  are  obliged  to  stop  turning  them  out." 

"  But  you  do  not  sell  directly  to  purchasers,  you  have 
middlemen  who  must  be  supplied  in  advance.  Why  not  try 
to  keep  production  steady  by  working  in  winter  for  the  follow- 
ing season  ? " 

"  You  forget,"  was  the  reply,  "  that  improvements  are 
constantly  being  introduced,  and  our  representatives  in 
England  and  France,  and  firms  which  deal  in  our  machines, 
always  insist  on  the  newest  make,  so  that  any  improvement 
introduced  by  our  own  or  any  competing  firm  is  enough  to 
depreciate  all  we  have  in  stock  and  render  it  unsaleable.  How 
then  could  we  accumulate  stock  ?  Just  now,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  we  are  changing  our  models,  and  as  soon  as  the  new 
ones  have  been  introduced  we  shall  work  at  high  pressure  to 
profit  by  the  moment's  popularity,  and  then  we  shall  wait 
till  next  summer." 

"  And  what  becomes  of  the  men  when  dismissed  ? " 

"  If  they  belong  to  a  Union,  like  the  blacksmiths,  they 


CHAP,  i  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  283 

apply  for  out-of-work  relief,  and  the  others  shift  for  them- 
selves." 

I  was  told  in  Coventry  that  some  of  them  work  at  watch- 
making, which  is  also  a  local  industry,  but  this  not  in  any 
way  regular  or  organised,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  men 
dismissed  from  bicycle  works  have  no  alternative  but  to  look 
for  work.  They  meet  with  an  obstacle  so  obvious  that  it  has 
never  occurred  to  them  to  try  to  unite  their  strength  in  order 
to  force  employers  to  give  regular  work.  No  Union  could 
succeed,  and  those  which  exist  can  only  play  the  part  of 
friendly  societies,  without  any  of  the  exclusiveness  and  tyranny 
which  we  have  seen  in  other  trades.  I  was  told  that  at 
Messrs.  Singer's  works  union  and  non  -  union  men  worked 
together  without  any  difficulty  arising,  and  the  cause  was 
stated  to  be  that  higher  wages  were  paid  in  bicycle -making 
than  in  any  other  related  industry.  I  saw  men  who  manage 
to  earn  Is.  an  hour  by  the  piece,  which,  with  a  nine  hours' 
day,  makes  £2  : 14s.  a  week  (supposing  Saturday  were  a  whole 
day).  This,  of  course,  is  exceptional,  but  generally  speaking 
the  pay  is  good,  and  must  necessarily  be  so.  Men  would 
not  take  temporary  work  without  the  attraction  of  high  wages, 
but  would  remain  in  the  works  and  factories  from  which  they 
are  at  present  drawn. 

This  industry  is  a  recent  one,  and  the  workmen  employed 
have  been  drawn  from  many  sources.  It  is  rather  a  new 
opening  for  iron-workers  than  a  distinct  trade.1  In  proof  of 
this  we  may  notice  that  a  good  blacksmith  is  quite  able  to 
make  a  bicycle  by  himself,  as  young  Brown  did,  but  it  would 
be  an  interesting  experiment  rather  than  a  profitable  employ- 
ment. It  never  pays  to  use  a  skilled  workman's  time  and 
labour  where  an  intelligent  man,  with  proper  machinery  at 
his  disposal,  can  do  more  work  in  less  time.  Consequently 
the  factory  type  must  necessarily  predominate  in  this  branch, 
even  though  much  hand  labour  is  required,  and  though  we 
find  none  of  the  powerful  mechanical  engines  employed  in 
the  construction  of  locomotives  and  shipbuilding.  The  Singer 

1  This  explains  why  gunsmiths  and  manufacturers  of  sewing  -  machines 
often  start  as  bicycle  manufacturers  with  the  same  staff.  This  happens  in  the 
case  of  the  different  firms  of  Saint  ^tienne,  the  firm  of  Bacle,  the  Decauville 
Company,  etc. 


284  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  HI 

Company  have  two  sets  of  works  at  Coventry.  In  the  older 
one  the  motive  power  is  generated  by  a  steam  engine,  in  the 
second  it  has  been  found  more  desirable  to  use  two  gas  engines, 
one  of  30 -horse  power  and  one  of  40 -horse  power. 

This  shows  that  the  factory  system  is  not  limited  in  the 
future  to  those  immense  factories  where  important  and  cum- 
brous work  is  performed.  Machinery  plays  its  part  in  the 
fabrication  of  more  modest  articles,  and  in  factories  less  vast 
than  Fairfield  Works.  This  we  shall  see  shortly  in  some  of 
the  small  factories  in  Birmingham.  But  before  leaving  the 
Singer  Company  and  the  manufacture  of  bicycles,  I  ought  to 
say  that  the  introduction  of  an  industry  where  the  staff  is  so 
variable  has  not  in  any  way  aggravated  the  Labour  Question. 
The  studious  Coventry  weaver,  who  was  ruined  by  the  failure 
of  the  ribbon  trade,  and  who  painted  so  vividly  the  vicissitudes 
of  his  career  in  his  interesting  book,  Lights  and  Shadoius  in 
the  Life  of  an  Artisan,  this  man,  who  all  his  life  suffered  from 
the  modern  industrial  evolution,  because  circumstances  had 
left  him  stranded  in  a  ruined  trade,  renders  full  justice  to  the 
beneficial  side  of  this  evolution.  Let  us  be  equally  just,  and 
recognise,  like  him,  that,  by  availing  himself  of  his  freedom  to 
pass  from  one  industry  to  another,  a  man  can  better  solve  the 
problem  of  how  to  live  under  the  new  conditions  of  labour 
than  he  could  ever  do  it  under  the  old  conditions  by  clinging 
to  a  single  trade.  The  Singer  Company's  men  are  well  aware 
beforehand  that  the  dead  season  will  come,  and  they  can  take 
steps  to  find  other  employment  against  that  time.  Many  of 
them  manage  to  do  so,  and  thus  by  means  of  the  new  formula 
of  change  they  keep  their  material  life  stable.  From  this 
point  of  view,  notwithstanding  their  specialisation,  they  are 
well  advanced  along  the  lines  of  change. 

We  turn  now  to  another  type  which  exhibits  the  utmost 
degree  of  despecialisation  reached  in  the  iron  trade.  This  is 
a  nail  -  making  factory  in  Birmingham,  the  home  of  nails, 
screws,  and  all  the  small  uses  to  which  various  metals  have 
been  put,  not  even  excluding  the  precious  metals  which  are 
employed,  as  we  have  already  seen,  in  the  jewellery  trade. 
In  nail-making  only  iron  and  brass  are  used,  and  the  persons 
engaged  in  the  trade  are  not  artists  like  the  jewellers,  but 
ordinary  factory  hands  of  both  sexes.  We  have  not  previously 


CHAP,  i  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  285 

met  women  in  the  iron  trade,  but  in  this  factory  30  men  and 
40  women  are  employed.  Thus  the  numbers  are  approximately 
equal,  if  we  deduct  the  foremen,  mechanics,  stokers,  etc.,  who 
are  always  men.  Very  few  of  the  women  are  married,  the 
majority  being  young  girls  who  soon  marry  off  one  by  one 
and  are  replaced  by  others.  Consequently  they  never  rise  to 
a  good  position  nor  acquire  much  experience,  but  are  machine 
tenders  and  nothing  more.  Of  the  men,  only  those  who 
manage  the  motor  machines  possess  first-rate  qualifications, 
for  the  post  of  foreman  is  rather  one  of  confidence  and  superin- 
tendence than  of  technical  knowledge. 

The  work  is  extremely  simple,  and  consists  in  cutting  to 
size  bars  of  metal  which  have  already  been  drawn  out.  The 
head  is  then  flattened  and  the  point  sharpened,  and  this  is 
easily  done  by  very  simple  machinery,  which  produces  different 
sizes  and  kinds,  such  as  carpenters'  tacks,  copper  nails  for 
shoes,  etc.  The  simplicity  of  the  machinery  employed  reduces 
the  dimensions  of  the  factory,  and  a  small  capital  and  simple 
management  are  sufficient.  If  orders  fall  off  it  is  quite 
possible  to  accumulate  stock,  as  nails  are  in  general  use  and 
little  susceptible  of  modification. 

This  is  an  advantage  both  to  employer  and  employed,  but 
not  in  the  direction  in  which  we  generally  look  and  in  which 
the  true  interest  of  the  worker  lies.  His  real  interest  is  not 
to  remain  for  ever  at  this  trade  when  other  and  better  ones 
are  opened  to  him  by  their  increasing  despecialisation,  but  to 
keep  this  to  fall  back  upon  when  thrown  out  of  work  in  others. 
This  is  the  true  use  of  an  industry  of  this  kind  for  the  modern 
workman,  whereas  if  it  frees  him  from  the  need  for  seeking 
work  it  will  keep  him  an  unskilled  labourer,  and  make  him  pay 
dear  for  his  freedom  from  anxiety  about  the  morrow.  As  a 
temporary  resource,  however,  it  is  extremely  valuable,  and  in 
times  of  depression  even  a  clever  mechanic  may  be  glad  to 
earn  £1  in  a  nail  factory. 

So  far  as  young  girls  are  concerned,  it  is  clearly  to  their 
advantage  to  work  at  a  trade  until  they  marry,  if  they  are 
strong  enough  to  resist  the  temptations  of  such  a  life.  Girls 
of  the  working  class,  however,  are  from  their  earliest  years 
accustomed  to  the  streets,  where  they  play  with  their  com- 
panions, and  they  run  but  little  danger  in  a  well -ordered 


286  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  HI 

factory,  not  more  perhaps,  in  many  cases,  than  if  they  remained 
at  home.  If  they  did  not  go  to  the  factory  they  would  go 
into  dressmakers'  or  milliners'  workrooms,  or  into  service, 
where  there  is  the  same  danger.  Their  salaries,  however,  are 
very  low,  not  more  than  6s.  or  7s.  a  week.1 

The  trade,  however,  is  in  some  respects  an  unattractive 
one  for  young  girls.  The  girls  are  repulsively  dirty  objects  in 
their  working  clothes,  stained  with  rust  and  black  dust.  Some 
of  them  are  pretty,  but  with  their  faces  besmeared  in  this 
sinister  fashion  they  look  like  veritable  hags.  There  are  not 
many  openings  for  women  in  this  centre  of  the  iron  industry, 
and  masters  profit  by  this  to  make  them  work  for  low  wages. 
Women's  wages  tend  to  rise  as  the  application  of  machinery 
to  industry  develops,  and  as  women  take  a  larger  and  larger 
share  in  the  work  of  the  modern  factory.  We  shall  see  a 
proof  of  this  in  the  textile  industry. 

1  If  any  readers  are  inclined  to  pity  the  Birmingham  nail -makers,  I  would 
call  their  attention  to  the  report  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  published  in  November 
1889,  on  the  nail -makers  of  Staffordshire  and  Worcestershire.  They  work  by 
hand  at  home  in  wretched  villages,  and  earn  ridiculously  low  wages  for  long 
hours  of  work.  Henry  Parken,  fifty-nine  years  of  age,  earns  9s.  2$d.  a  week, 
working  fifteen  hours  a  day,  and  out  of  this  he  has  to  spend  Is.  2fd.  a  week  on 
coke  for  his  forge.  Two  women  who  work  with  him  earn  4s.  9fd.  a  week, 
working  fourteen  hours  a  day.  One  nail-maker  earns  12s.  a  week,  but  he  is  a 
skilful  man.  Thomas  Harrison  works  with  a  daughter,  aged  twenty-eight,  and 
the  two  together  earn  13s.  a  week,  deducting  coal.  The  report  contains  a 
number  of  revelations  which  throw  a  sad  light  on  the  material  and  moral  con- 
dition of  these  people.  It  should  be  remarked  that  the  Birmingham  nail- 
making  factories  could  pay  their  female  hands  better  but  for  the  competition  of 
firms  who  employ  the  hand  nail-makers  of  Staffordshire  and  Worcestershire.  It 
is  the  sweating  of  the  latter  which  tends  to  cheapen  the  price  of  labour  and  the 
price  of  the  product. 


CHAPTER    II 

THE    TEXTILE    INDUSTRIES 
The  Workman  Subordinated  to  Machinery. 

THE  textile  industries  offer  the  most  complete  example  of  the 
triumph  of  machinery  which  can  at  present  be  found  in  any 
trade.  The  workman  occupies  but  a  secondary  position, 
and  serves  the  machine  instead  of  being  served  by  it. 
Apprenticeship  disappears  with  the  need  for  technical  skill. 
Women  are  no  longer  handicapped  by  their  inferior  physical 
strength,  nor  by  the  temporary  nature  of  their  presence  in  the 
factory.  Although  they  will  leave  the  factory  when  they 
marry,  they  can  nevertheless  earn  a  good  wage  while  they 
remain  unmarried,  for  neither  muscular  force  nor  special 
technical  skill,  nor  indeed  anything  but  care,  attention,  and 
discretion,  is  necessary  for  superintending  spindles  and  looms. 
Finally,  the  clientele  is  as  large  and  varied  as  possible. 

Thus  the  textile  industries  are  an  excellent  type  of  a 
despecialised  industry,  and  mark  the  highest  point  of  the 
modern  evolution  of  labour  in  factories,  and  from  this  point  of 
view  they  are  of  the  utmost  interest.1  They  were  the  first  to 
undergo  those  transformations  to  which  other  industries  are 
approximating  in  different  degrees.  They  have  experienced 
crises  analogous  to  those  experienced  to-day  by  trades  of  the 
old  type  when  threatened  by  the  advance  of  machinery, 
their  present  organisation  is  that  to  which  these  trades  are 
tending,  and  their  example  will  thus  furnish  a  valuable  lesson. 

1  We  shall  see  that  the  industries  of  transport  occupy  a  still  more  despecialised 
class  of  workers  than  even  those  industries  where  the  use  of  machinery  is  most 
developed. 


288  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

We  have  again  and  again  been  led  to  remark  the  general 
movement  of  this  modern  industrial  evolution.  All  the  types 
which  have  been  described  are  in  a  sense  landmarks,  intended 
to  fix  a  given  moment  in  this  evolution,  and  to  prove  its 
triumphant  progress.  We  have  noted  the  material  con- 
dition of  the  worker  corresponding  to  each  of  these  given 
moments,  and  have  thus  been  able,  by  means  of  a  series  of 
fixed  points,  to  trace  two  closely  connected  curves,  one  show- 
ing the  evolution  of  the  organisation  of  the  worker,  and  pro- 
ceeding parallel  to  the  second,  which  shows  the  evolution  of 
the  application  of  machinery  to  industry. 

Thus  the  different  aspects  of  the  Labour  Question  appear 
to  us  no  longer  as  a  series  of  different  and  independent 
problems,  but  as  a  progression  in  which  we  know  the  first  few 
terms,  and  of  which  we  can  find  the  law.  The  truth  of  the 
law  becomes  more  and  more  evident  with  each  new  term  of 
the  series,  and  the  existence  of  a  constant  relation  between  the 
transformation  of  the  workshop  and  the  transformation  of  the 
worker  is  demonstrated.  We  see  that  the  worker  becomes 
more  and  more  of  a  man  as  he  becomes  less  and  less  of  a 
specialist,  and  that  his  prosperity  increasingly  depends  on  his 
own  personal  worth,  intellectual  resources,  and  moral  energy. 

Thus  an  unbiassed  examination  of  the  facts  leads  to  the 
unexpected  conclusion,  that  the  solution  of  the  Labour  Question 
will  be  increasingly  found  in  the  development  of  the  worker,  and 
in  his  more  manly  training,  and  less  and  less  in  ingenious 
combinations  intended  to  ensure  a  mechanical  happiness  by 
producing  an  artificial  stability  of  trade. 

The  progress  of  modern  industry  is  overthrowing  the  old 
barriers  which  penned  the  worker  inside  a  limited  area  in 
order  to  protect  him — often  unsuccessfully — from  the  struggle 
for  existence,  and  is  compelling  him  to  face  this  struggle,  thus 
placing  him  afresh  in  the  natural  conditions  of  humanity, 
while  at  the  same  time  urging  him  to  equip  himself  for  the 
struggle. 

But  just  as  all  industries  are  not  equally  committed  to 
this  twofold  evolution,  so,  in  some  branches  of  the  textile 
industry,  we  shall  find  survivals  due  to  special  circumstances, 
while  others  seem  to  have  attained  the  extreme  limit  at  present 
observable. 


CHAP,  ii  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  289 

The  part  played  by  skilled  workmen  in  the  textile 
industries  depends  on  whether  the  mills  are  isolated  or 
in  a  great  manufacturing  centre ;  on  the  nature  of  the  raw 
material,  whether  silk,  wool,  cotton,  hemp,  jute,  etc. ;  on  the 
nature  of  the  operation,  whether  spinning  or  weaving;  and 
corresponding  to  each  of  these  different  cases  we  have  a 
different  aspect  of  the  Labour  Question.  We  shall  examine 
them  in  the  order  in  which  they  bear  on  the  question,  and 
illustrate  the  vanity  of  all  artificial  solutions  by  rendering 
evident  the  true  source  of  all  the  solutions. 


I.  A  Silk  Spinning  Mill  in  Yorkshire. 

Not  far  from  Halifax,  in  one  of  the  prettiest  corners  of 
Yorkshire,  lies  a  charming  valley,  with  splendid  meadow-land 
and  great  masses  of  dark  verdure  thrown  into  relief  by  the 
bright  green  of  the  turf.  The  trees  are  not  so  fine  as  in  the 
south  of  England,  but  they  are  dotted  about  in  groups  which 
give  the  whole  country-side  the  appearance  of  an  immense 
park.  We  are  far  from  the  gloomy  surroundings  of  Birmingham 
and  Manchester,  where  the  valleys  are  buried  under  accumula- 
tions of  mining  debris,  where  the  factories  almost  touch  each 
other,  and  where  the  whole  district  looks  like  a  quarter  in  a 
manufacturing  town.  Here  the  mills  are  scattered  about  the 
country-side,  often  hidden  by  the  thick  foliage  surrounding 
them,  and  the  houses  of  the  operatives  make  coquettish 
little  villages  at  the  bottom  of  a  valley  or  are  dotted  over 
the  slopes  of  a  neighbouring  hill.  It  is  like  some  picturesque 
spot  in  the  mining  districts  of  Normandy,  with  the  characteristic 
features  of  the  scenery  a  little  accentuated. 

I  had  an  introduction  to  Mr.  H ,  who  is  not  merely 

an  energetic  business  man,  but  an  accomplished  country 
gentleman.  He  is  also  a  magistrate,  and  is  well  qualified  by 
his  practical  knowledge,  his  high  character  and  fairness,  to 
discharge  the  functions  of  such  an  office.  He  feels  for  his 
people  the  inherited  sympathy  which  results  in  certain 
families  from  generations  of  residence,  services  rendered,  and 
common  memories.  His  father  and  brother  and  himself 
are  at  the  head  of  a  spinning  mill  established  in  1800, 
and  a  large  number  of  their  men  have  never  worked 

u 


290  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

anywhere  else,  but  have  succeeded  their  fathers  and  grand- 
fathers. 

The  scene  is  a  very  attractive  one,  and  inspires  a  sense  of 
calm  and  peace  and  of  mutual  good-will  between  masters  and 
men.  My  first  impression  was  confirmed  by  a  visit  to  the 
factory.  I  asked  a  joiner  engaged  in  the  repairing  department 
whether  he  belonged  to  any  Union,  and  he  replied  with  a 
smile,  "  We  don't  care  about  that  sort  of  thing."  The  only 
Union  men  in  the  mill  are  two  or  three  dressers,  strikes  are 
unknown,  wages  are  high,  and  work  regular. 

Is  this  then  an  industrial  earthly  paradise  ?  In  a  certain 
sense  it  is.  Partly  owing  to  the  general  conditions  of  silk 
spinning,  partly  to  circumstances  peculiar  to  the  Eipponden 
mills,  and  the  intelligent  care  displayed  by  the  employers  for 
their  men,  the  latter  are  freed  from  many  cares.  Like 
Messrs.  Platt's  men,  though  from  different  causes,  they  are 
spared  the  hard  necessity  of  preparing  for  the  contingency  of 
being  thrown  out  of  employment,  and  can  rest  in  a  security 
which  has  remained  undisturbed  during  several  years  of 
regular  work  These  are  their  advantages,  usually  called 
fortunate  ones,  but  like  all  privileges  they  have  their  other 
side.  The  worker  who  relies  on  favourable  circumstances 
external  to  himself  neglects  to  fit  himself  for  overcoming 
difficulties,  and  is  less  fitted  to  meet  and  conquer  them.  And 
yet  difficulties  may  come. 

Mr.  H explained  to  me  that  he  only  succeeded  in 

working  uninterruptedly  by  accumulating  stock  to  a  very  con- 
siderable extent,  and  that  he  often  had  £20,000  or  £30,000 
worth  of  spun  silk  on  his  hands.  He  thus  runs  a  great  risk, 
and  a  case  might  arise  where  all  the  good- will  in  the  world  could 
not  prevent  the  mills  from  stopping.  It  would  be  enough  if 
a  falling  off  of  orders  were  to  coincide  with  a  depreciation  in 
prices,  which  is  by  no  means  an  impossibility.  Silk  is  liable 
to  considerable  variations,  both  of  production  and  consumption, 
and  therefore  to  well-marked  fluctuations,  and  there  might 
be  serious  danger  if  large  quantities  could  not  be  got  rid 
of.  In  that  very  year  (1893)  the  silk  market  had  been  in  a 
very  disturbed  condition.  Between  1st  January  and  1st 
May  prices  had  a  constant  upward  tendency,  amounting  for 
some  kinds  of  silk  to  a  difference  of  31  per  cent  between  the 


CHAP,  ii  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  291 

two  dates.  In  December  prices  had  fallen,  and  were  22*4  per 
cent  lower  than  they  had  been  in  January.1  Thus  manu- 
facturers who  had  bought  raw  material  in  large  quantities  at 
the  beginning  of  the  year,  and  had  worked  it  up  into  stock, 
found  themselves  encumbered  with  greatly  depreciated  goods, 
and  lost  through  the  fall  in  the  price  of  the  raw  material. 
Such  occurrences  tend  to  make  masters  very  cautious  about 
accumulating  stock,  and  force  them  to  stop  work  when  orders 
fall  off. 

If  this  contingency  has  been  avoided  hitherto,  it  is  partly  due 

to  the  skill,  foresight,  and  devotion  of  Mr.  H ,  and  partly 

to  the  fact  that  the  consumption  of  spun  silk  is  more  regular 
than  that  of  stuffs,  trimmings,  velvets,  ribbons,  or  silk  lace. 
Fashion  changes  abruptly  in  these  matters,  but  the  spun  silk, 
which  is  used  for  many  different  purposes,  is  not  directly 
affected  by  these  changes.  So  long  as  its  destination  is  merely 
changed,  it  makes  very  little  difference  if,  let  us  say,  there  is 
a  great  demand  for  velvets  and  ribbons,  and  very  little  for  silk 
stuffs. 

However,  neither  of  the  elements  which  contribute  to 
regularity  of  employment  is  absolute.  The  masters  may  be 
less  clever,  less  fortunate,  or  less  ready  to  risk  their  own 
interests  in  order  to  prevent  a  crisis  among  their  men,  or  they 
may  have  less  capital  at  their  disposal,  and  thus  be  unable  to 
continue  to  manufacture  without  selling.  Even  if  the  con- 
sumption of  spun  silk  is  relatively  steady,  owing  to  the  variety 
of  uses  to  which  it  is  put,  its  markets  and  its  market  price  are 

subject  to  a  number  of  vicissitudes.     Mr.  H told  me  he  sells 

not  only  to  England  and  Scotland,  but  also  to  foreign  countries, 
and  especially  to  France.  Thus  he  has  in  the  first  place  to 
allow  for  fluctuation  in  price,  owing  to  the  state  of  silkworm 
culture  in  France  and  the  demand  for  spun  silk,  and  then 
with  artificial  disturbances  due  to  French  tariff  laws,  which  are 
by  no  means  unimportant.  Previous  to  1888,  Italian  raw 
silk  was  sold  to  Lyons  duty  free,  on  1st  March  1888  a  differ- 
ential duty  was  imposed,  and  in  1892  it  was  again  exempted 

1  Raw  Cevennes  silk  of  second  quality  was  quoted  at  46 '4s.  in  January 
1893,  60 '8s.  in  May,  and  36s.  in  December.  See  the  Report  on  the  Textile 
Industry  in  France,  presented  to  the  Permanent  Commission  on  the  Value  of 
Customs  by  M.  M.  Gaston  Grandgeorge  and  Leon  Tabourier,  pp.  3  to  6. 


292  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  HI 

from  any  duty.  Each  of  these  measures  affected  English 
spinners  relatively  to  their  French  competitors,  especially  when 
they  sent  part  of  their  produce  to  French  markets.  Previous 
to  1888  wrought  silk  paid  no  duty  at  the  French  frontier,  in 
1888  it  paid  2  francs  (Is.  7-^d.),  and  in  1892  3  francs 
(2s.  4itd.).  So  much  for  the  circumstances  which  directly 
affect  these  isolated  Yorkshire  mills.  In  a  situation  where 
the  risks  are  so  great,  even  those  employers  who  are  most 
ready  to  make  sacrifices  have  not  always  the  power  to  prevent 
a  crisis  which  will  throw  their  mills  out  of  work. 

If  such  a  crisis  occurred  here,  what  would  become  of 
these  operatives  ?  450  men,  girls,  and  children  make  a  living 
by  the  mills,  and  as  a  rule  a  good  living.  Wages  are  as 

high  as  in  the  great  manufacturing  centres,  and  Mr.  H , 

as  he  himself  told  me,  is  always  anxious  to  pay  his  operatives 
as  liberally  as  possible.  "  If  you  want  good  hands  you  must 
pay  them  well,"  he  added,  in  a  very  practical  tone.  Work  is 
not  usually  paid  by  the  day  in  his  mills,  but  by  the  piece, 
but  the  average  weekly  wages  will  indicate  the  rate  of  payment. 
A  man  earns  from  35s.  to  £2  a  week,  girls  about  15s.,  and 
children  employed  as  half-timers  from  7s.  6d.  to  8s.  a  week. 

These  of  course  are  averages,  and  Mr.  H told  me  that 

girls  often  earned  £1  a  week.  A  working  day  consists  of  ten 
hours,  and  Saturday  is  a  half-holiday,  so  the  weekly  wage 
represents  thirty-six  hours'  work,  and  the  rate  of  payment  is 
high. 

Here  then  we  have  a  staff  of  workers  accustomed  to  earn  a 
good  regular  wage,  thanks  to  the  care  which  their  employers 
take  to  prevent  interruptions  of  work.  If  the  mills  were 
obliged  to  stop,  what  would  they  have  to  fall  back  upon,  and 
where  would  they  find — not  merely  such  good  employment — 
but  a  substitute  of  any  kind  by  which  they  could  make  a 
living  ? 

A  good  many  of  them  do  a  little  cultivation,  and  this  part 
of  Yorkshire  affords  excellent  pasturage,  which  makes  it  profit- 
able to  keep  cows  for  milking.  This  is  work  which  requires 
very  little  labour,  for  the  women  and  children  can  look  after 
the  cows  and  the  dairy,  and  the  husband  has  time  to  milk 
when  he  comes  home  from  work.  This  would  be  an  appreci- 
able addition  to  the  family  income  in  ordinary  times,  but  it 


CHAP,  ii  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  293 

would  be  quite  insufficient  to  maintain  a  family  if  the  mills 
stopped  work.  A  family  cannot  live  on  one  or  two  cows,  a  pig, 
a  few  fowls,  and  a  couple  of  rabbits,  more  especially  a  family 
accustomed  to  the  comforts  procured  by  a  large  weekly  wage. 

The  most  skilful  of  the  men,  those  who  earn  about  £2  a 
week,  seem  least  inclined  to  profit  by  their  rural  situation  to 
engage  in  a  little  cultivation.  A  foreman  with  whom  I  con- 
versed replied  to  my  inquiries  as  to  whether  he  cultivated  a 
little  land  with  a  rather  contemptuous  smile :  "  I  don't  believe 
in  farming  for  a  workman  in  a  mill."  He  thinks  he  can 
do  better,  and  that  he  would  be  wasting  his  time.  It  should 
be  said  that  he  has  only  two  children,  a  son  of  twelve  and  a 
daughter  of  fourteen,  who  cost  him  very  little.  "  I  don't 
believe  in  large  families,"  he  told  me.  At  bottom  he  does  not 
believe  in  anything  except  his  good  salary,  on  which  he 
depends  exclusively.  He  is  ambitious  for  his  children,  and 
his  daughter  is  training  to  become  a  teacher,  while  his  son 
has  not  yet  made  up  his  mind  about  his  career,  though  he 
announces  that  he  means  to  be  a  gentleman  and  not  a  working 
man. 

Personally,  I  have  not  much  faith  in  this  way  of  bettering 
oneself.  Undoubtedly  the  present  position  of  this  man  is  good : 
he  has  very  few  children,  he  pays  only  £6  a  year  for  a  large  and 
comfortable  house,  and  his  wages  amount  to  about  £100  a  year. 
This  is  certainly  a  position  of  ease,  but  it  is  due  chiefly  to  the 
limitation  of  expenses,  to  voluntary  sterility,  and  to  the  low- 
ness  of  rents  in  this  little  village.  Eeal  improvement  tends 
rather  to  augment  resources  than  to  reduce  expenses.  The 
strong,  healthy,  vigorous  method  is  to  produce  a  large  family 
and  work  hard  to  keep  them  while  they  are  young,  and  to  fit 
them  to  earn  their  own  living  as  early  and  as  well  as  possible. 
If  the  mills  were  to  fail,  where  would  be  the  advantage  of 
having  no  bread-winner  for  the  family  but  the  father  ?  What 
would  be  gained  by  the  lowness  of  the  rent  in  a  place  where 

there  are  only  Mr.  H 's  mills  to  furnish  employment.  We 

are  concerned,  be  it  remembered,  with  a  skilled  workman,  the 
foreman  in  charge  of  the  dressing  department,  in  which  silk  is 
sorted  according  to  quality.  In  this  department  all  the 
operatives  serve  from  five  to  seven  years'  apprenticeship,  for 
their  task  is  an  extremely  delicate  one,  requiring  very  great 


294  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

experience.  It  is  also  very  important,  owing  to  the  value  of 
the  silk,  the  different  varieties,  and  the  various  uses  to  which 
they  are  applied.  The  foreman  of  this  department,  therefore, 
must  be  a  skilled  workman  of  skilled  workmen.  He  would 
not  readily  consent  to  work  in  woollen  or  cotton  mills,  and  Mr. 

H 's  are  the  only  silk  mills  in  the  neighbourhood.  Indeed 

this  manufacture  is  relatively  little  developed  in  England. 

This  man,  therefore,  would  be  without  resources  if  he  were 
thrown  out  of  work.  His  savings,  if  he  had  any,  would  soon 
be  exhausted  with  his  habits  of  living,  and  neither  his  son  nor 
his  daughter  seem  qualified  to  support  the  family  by  their 
work.  The  daughter,  if  she  succeeds  in  becoming  a  teacher, 
will  need  all  her  salary  for  herself,  and  the  son  will  fare 
badly  if  he  has  to  rely  solely  on  what  he  earns  as  a  gentle- 
man !  Of  course  it  is  a  perfectly  legitimate  ambition  to  wish 
to  become  a  gentleman,  but  such  an  ambition  should  rest  on  a 
solid  material  basis. 

It  may  be  urged  that  this  foreman  is  in  a  somewhat 
exceptional  position,  that  he  has  few  children,  devotes  himself 
to  no  supplementary  work  like  cultivation,  and  is  a  specialist, 
and  that  the  other  operatives  would  hardly  present  the 
same  character.  I  admit  the  force  of  the  argument,  but  my 
point  is  that  the  men  most  disposed  by  their  advantageous 
position  to  try  to  raise  themselves  find  but  few  facilities  in  a 
village.  They  and  their  children  lack  the  thousand  openings 
which  present  themselves  in  a  great  industrial  town,  and  their 
horizon  is  inevitably  a  very  limited  one.  The  man  of  whom 
we  are  speaking  has  lived  in  Eipponden  for  thirty-one  years, 
sorting  silk  according  to  quality,  and  there  is  nothing  in  such 
an  occupation  to  open  a  man's  eyes  to  the  future.  In  other 
words,  his  isolation  and  his  specialisation  are  unfavourable 
circumstances  for  the  advancement  of  his  family. 

We  have  still  to  see  whether  the  great  mass  of  operatives, 
the  rank  and  file,  who  are  more  anxious  to  make  both  ends 
meet  than  to  reach  the  top  of  the  ladder,  do  not  find  better 
conditions  in  this  delightful  village  than  in  a  suburb  of  Bir- 
mingham, Leeds,  or  Bradford. 

At  first  sight  it  would  seem  as  if  the  reply  should  be  in 
the  affirmative.  Eents,  as  we  have  seen,  are  low,  and  the  cost 
of  food  comes  to  about  the  same  thing,  for  the  price  of  meat 


CHAP,  ii  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  295 

and  bread  does  not  vary  very  much  in  any  part  of  England. 
Against  the  higher  price  paid  for  groceries  in  the  country,  and 
the  impossibility  of  obtaining  frozen  Australian  or  American 
meat,  may  be  set  the  facilities  for  growing  vegetables  and 
keeping  pigs,  poultry,  and  perhaps  a  few  cows. 

All  this  would  be  excellent  —  supposing  the  mill  were 
absolutely  guaranteed  against  ever  being  obliged  to  stop — if 
the  only  object  of  the  institution  of  the  family  were  to  support 
the  children.  But  it  ought  to  provide  for  their  education  and 
render  them  capable  of  keeping  themselves  some  day  and 
founding  families  in  their  turn,  and  here  the  difficulty  com- 
mences. Of  course  what  are  generally  called  the  means  of 
education  exist  at  Eipponden,  and  there  are  schools — and 
excellent  schools — in  which  the  employers  take  a  deep  and 
enlightened  interest.  But  children  do  not  get  the  most  im- 
portant part  of  education  at  school,  but  out  of  school  hours, 
in  the  family,  in  their  surroundings,  in  the  thousand  and  one 
occurrences  of  daily  life.  If  these  means  of  education  are 
ample,  there  is  the  best  possible  chance  of  children  acquiring 
a  complete  education ;  if  they  are  few  or  feeble,  education 
is  a  very  difficult  matter. 

In  France  there  are  numbers  of  young  men,  usually  called 
well  educated,  who  are  quite  at  a  loss  how  to  set  about 
making  a  living.  The  will  is  not  lacking,  but  they  are  stopped 
by  the  absence  of  means  within  their  reach.  This  is  the 
essential  fault  in  their  education.  In  certain  classes  of 
English  society,  on  the  contrary,  young  men  are  ready  for  any 
sort  of  enterprise,  and  for  acting  on  their  own  initiative.  We 
might  recall  the  instance  of  Brown's  children,  who  have 
entered  very  different  branches  of  business,  and  are  not  only 
ready  to  go  to  the  other  side  of  the  world  but  are  capable  of 
making  a  living  anywhere.  This  is  a  phenomenon  in  educa- 
tion, and  it  is  due  to  their  father's  example  and  to  the  fact 
that  they  live  in  a  great  town  of  500,000  souls,  a  centre  of 
extraordinary  activity  in  touch  with  the  entire  world. 

But  in  this  charming  Yorkshire  village  such  means  of 
education  are  rare.  It  is  a  delightful  place  of  repose,  but  not 
a  centre  of  work,  and  it  is  for  work  that  children  should  be 
educated,  since  it  is  only  through  work  that  they  can  hope 
to  rise.  What  can  a  working  man  do  with  his  children  here  ? 


296  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

Mr.  H is  willing  to  take  as  many  as  he  can,  and  two  or 

three  other  mills  in  the  neighbourhood  can  also  take  some,  but 
not  alL  Where  will  the  others  go  ?  The  world  is  open  to  them, 
of  course,  as  it  is  to  everybody,  but  their  education  has  not 
given  them  so  much  knowledge  of  it  as  many  others  possess, 
and  they  are  less  fitted  to  make  their  way.  As  a  rule  they 
will  make  for  the  manufacturing  towns,  where  they  will 
become  workmen  and  remain  so,  and  the  peaceful  calm  of 
their  childhood  will  have  been  but  an  indifferent  preparation 
for  the  temptations  and  the  keener  life  of  a  great  centre. 

Nor  is  this  all.  I  have  assumed  that  the  mills  are  not 
thrown  out  of  work,  but  what  would  happen  if  they  stopped, 
even  for  a  short  period,  which  as  we  know  is  not  impossible  ? 
We  will  leave  out  of  the  question  the  skilled  workmen,  who 
are  but  a  small  minority.  Except  in  the  dressing  department, 
the  work  is  done  by  machinery.  The  operatives  serve  no 
apprenticeship  and  only  attend  to  machines,  silk -washing 
machines,  rotatory  drying-machines,  and  spinning-looms.  It 
seems  as  though  it  should  be  easy  to  pass  to  another  occupa- 
tion of  the  same  kind,  but  where  is  it  to  be  found  ?  Except 
for  the  farms  and  a  few  woollen  and  cotton  mills  in  the 
neighbourhood,  there  is  no  chance  of  finding  employment. 
This  is  the  true  danger  of  the  situation,  the  sword  suspended 
over  the  head  of  this  peaceful  folk. 

It  is  impossible  to  praise  too  highly  the  benevolence  and  the 

devoted  guardianship  of  Messrs.  H .  They  neglect  nothing 

which  might  contribute  to  the  material  and  moral  well-being 
of  those  they  employ,  or  procure  them  innocent  recreations. 
They  not  only  pay  good  wages,  but  they  endeavour  in  in- 
numerable ways  to  exercise  a  beneficial  influence  on  their 
operatives,  and  with  this  object  they  have  founded  a  penny 
bank  and  started  a  free  library  in  the  mill,  as  well  as  a  theatre 
where  music  and  recitation  may  be  practised  on  holidays, 
schools,  and  religious  services.  Nothing  that  careful  and 
enlightened  masters  can  give  is  lacking,  and  yet  one  essential 
thing  is  wanting.  That  is  ability  on  the  part  of  the  men  to 
organise  for  themselves  what  their  employers  have  been 
obliged  to  do  for  them  and  to  push  their  children  vigorously 
into  new  grooves.  These  are  things  which  no  employer  can 
do  for  them. 


CHAP,  ii  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  297 

In  a  word,  the  prosperity  of  this  Eden  depends  rather  on 
the  employers  than  on  the  men.  The  latter  are  worthy  folk, 
well  paid,  well  fed,  well  sheltered,  and  well  insured  so  far 
against  the  storms  of  life.  But  let  a  storm  sweep  away  their 
employer  and  they  are  at  the  mercy  of  circumstances. 

Mr.  H used  for  a  long  time  to  give  out  work  to  families 

in  the  neighbourhood.  The  waste  silk  was  supplied  to  some 
of  the  country  people  who  had  hand-looms,  to  be  woven  at  odd 
moments  for  a  small  wage  into  coarse  articles  for  which  a  sale 

might  be  found.  "  It  was  a  poor  speculation,"  said  Mr.  H , 

"  but  we  did  not  do  it  to  make  money.  We  were  content 
to  make  both  ends  meet,  and  glad  to  put  a  few  shillings  in 
the  way  of  our  poorer  neighbours.  We  had  reluctantly  to 
stop  this  about  a  fortnight  ago,  for  we  were  losing  money 
by  it." 

There  is,  of  course,  an  enormous  difference  between  the 
working  up  of  waste  silk  under  the  unfavourable  conditions 
of  handloom  weaving  and  the  machinery  set  up  by  Messrs. 
H—  — ,  provided  with  every  modern  contrivance.  Yet  if 
their  work-people  found  themselves  deprived  of  work  through 
competition,  like  the  peasants  of  the  neighbouring  hillsides, 
they  would  be  no  better  able  to  find  other  work,  and  they 
would  not  even  have  the  resource  of  agriculture.  We  cannot 
compare  such  mere  accessories  as  the  possession  of  a  bit  of 
land  and  a  few  domestic  animals  with  a  real  farm  meant  to 
support  a  peasant  family.  They  are  even  more  dependent 
than  such  peasants  on  Messrs.  H . 

This  proves  that  it  is  not  enough  for  the  modern  factory 
hand  to  be  professionally  despecialised,  and  to  have  ceased  to 
be  dependent  from  the  nature  of  his  work  on  one  special  trade. 
To  acquire  the  flexibility  required  to-day  he  must  also  be 
morally  despecialised  and  must  not  be  bound  by  his  habits  of 
life  to  the  factory  in  which  he  works.  If  not,  he  is  as  much 
the  slave  of  those  habits  as  others  are  of  their  specialism. 
Isolation  is  very  favourable  to  the  over-development  of  such 
habits,  and  that  is  why  we  have  begun  our  study  of  the  textile 
industries  with  this  example,  where  we  get  machinery  with 
every  modern  improvement  and  despecialisation  of  the  workers, 
but  where,  nevertheless,  the  latter  are  restricted  to  a  very 
limited  sphere  of  activity. 


298  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

The  woollen  industry  will  take  us  into  very  different  sur- 
roundings. There  is  no  need  to  dwell  on  its  enormous 
importance  in  England  and  Scotland.1  While  the  silk  manu- 
facture occupies  but  a  small  number  of  mills,  and  the  silk  trade 
of  Europe  is  in  the  hands  of  Lyons  and  Milan,  Great  Britain 
holds  a  front  place  in  the  woollen  manufacture,  and  notwith- 
standing the  recent  tendency  to  send  the  wool  exported  from 
Australia  and  La  Plata  direct  to  those  countries  of  Europe 
which  have  woollen  manufactures,  London  is  still  the  greatest 
wool  market  in  the  world. 


II.   The  Woollen  Manufacture. 

The  mere  fact  of  the  large  number  of  factories  devoted  to 
the  manufacture  of  woollen  goods  has  a  sensible  influence  on 
the  position  of  the  operatives.  Those  who,  notwithstanding 
the  reign  of  power -looms,  remain  skilled  workmen  in  any 
particular  line  are  at  least  connected  with  a  very  widely  em- 
ployed specialism.  Some  towns,  like  Bradford,  live  entirely 
by  the  woollen  manufacture,  and  skilled  workmen  in  this  trade 
are  therefore  not  at  the  mercy  of  a  single  employer,  or  if 
their  employer  fails  they  can  find  other  employers  in  the  same 
place,  for  whom  they  can  do  the  same  kind  of  work.  Only 
a  general  crisis  seriously  affects  them. 

This  is  one  great  difference  between  the  silk  and  woollen 
manufactures.  "We  have  seen  that  the  former  is  but  little 
developed  in  England,  and  further,  the  mills  we  observed  were 
in  the  country,  which  greatly  increased  the  difficulty  of  finding 
other  work  in  the  event  of  a  crisis.  In  the  woollen  manu- 
facture we  shall  rarely  leave  the  great  manufacturing  centres, 

1  Great  Britain  manufactured  in  1893  about  500,000,000  Ibs.  of  raw  wool,  or 
more  than  a  fifth  of  the  entire  consumption  of  the  globe.  Europe  used  about 
1,260,000,000  Ibs.,  and  North  America  500,000,000  Ibs.,  the  same  quantity  as 
England. 

In  the  case  of  silk  the  figures  are  quite  different.  France  comes  to  the  front, 
with  about  8,000,000  Ibs.  used  in  her  factories.  Great  Britain  had  only  about 
1,550,000  Ibs.,  or  only  half  as  much  as  Switzerland,  and  rather  more  than  5  per 
cent  of  the  total  consumption  of  the  manufacturing  countries  of  Europe  and 
America.  Considering  the  enormous  development  of  the  textile  industry  in 
England,  we  may  say  that  silk  is  an  exception.  (See  Report  on  the  Textile 
Industry  in  1893  already  cited,  pp.  8  and  53.) 


CHAP,  ii  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  299 

and  although  we  may  come  across  small  mills  in  some  Scottish 
valley  which  owe  their  origin  to  a  neighbouring  waterfall, 
these  are  exceptions  and  not  the  rule.  They  do  not  present 
the  characteristic  features  of  this  industry,  and  should  not  be 
chosen  as  types  for  observation. 

We  have  no  longer,  then,  to  take  isolation  into  account,  for 
it  does  not  appreciably  affect  woollen  operatives  as  a  body. 
The  special  circumstance  which  will  retard  or  accelerate  their 
evolution  will  be  their  specialisation,  which  will  be  more  or 
less  well  marked,  according  to  the  branch  in  which  they  are 
engaged. 

The  further  a  manufacturing  process  is  carried  the  more 
likely  are  we  to  meet  with  skilled  workmen.  We  shall  find 
more,  for  example,  in  weaving  than  in  spinning  mills.  A 
particular  stuff  is  woven  with  a  particular  loom,  while  a  given 
warp  or  woof  may  enter  into  the  composition  of  different 
stuffs.  From  this  point  of  view  the  manufacture  of  fancy 
stuffs  requires  more  skilled  workmen  than  the  manufacture  of 
plain  ones.  Hence  it  follows  that  in  order  to  observe  the 
branch  where  skilled  workmen  are  most  numerous  we  must 
take  a  factory  producing  an  article  ready  for  use  and  ad- 
mitting of  various  patterns.  The  example  we  will  choose  is 
the  carpet  factory  of  Messrs.  Templeton  in  Glasgow. 

Messrs.  Templeton  employ  1200  hands,  of  whom  about 
half  are  women,  and  as  a  rule  unmarried.  Skilled  workers 
may  be  either  men  or  women,  but  the  men  are  generally 
reserved  for  work  requiring  muscular  strength.  Before  a  loom 
can  be  started  it  must  be  furnished  with  heavy  bobbins. 
When  carpets  are  made  in  a  single  piece  the  size  of  the  loom 
prevents  a  woman  from  performing  the  various  manual  opera- 
tions necessary  for  its  proper  working,  and  men  are  employed. 
Messrs.  Templeton  execute  special  orders  on  hand-looms,  for  if 
a  pattern  is  not  for  general  use,  and  cannot  be  reproduced  a 
great  number  of  times,  nothing  is  gained  by  using  a  power- 
loom,  which  is  a  much  more  complicated  one  to  set  up  and 
represents  a  large  initial  expense.  Here  again  it  is  necessary 
to  employ  men.  On  the  other  hand,  some  other  workmen  are 
only  chosen  in  preference  to  women  because  they  have  stronger 
arms,  but  these  are  labourers  rather  than  skilled  workers. 

There   is  a  considerable  difference  in  wages   among   the 


300  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

women  hands.  The  most  skilful  earn  more  than  £1  a  week, 
others  do  not  exceed  10s.,  while  a  few  little  girls  of  thirteen  or 
fourteen,  whose  work  is  extremely  simple,  only  receive  4s. 

The  preparation  of  the  patterns  to  be  reproduced  seems  to 
be  the  chief  difficulty  in  the  manufacture  of  carpets.  The 
most  skilful  of  the  women  hands  are  employed  at  design- 
and  pattern-making.  By  means  of  ingenious  contrivances 
the  different  colours  of  yarns  are  so  prepared  as  to  form  a 
kind  of  rope  which,  when  used  as  a  warp  and  woven  on  the 
woof,  gives  the  required  design.  It  is  not  difficult  to  see 
that  this  is  an  operation  which  requires  the  greatest  care  and 
accuracy.  In  the  pattern  workshops  I  saw  young  girls 
puzzling  over  great  pattern  cards,  which  were  ruled  in  narrow 
divisions,  and  covered  with  numbers.  These  pattern  cards 
are  afterwards  given  to  the  design-makers,  who  must  under- 
stand and  carefully  follow  their  directions,  notwithstanding 
the  great  number  of  bobbins  of  different  colours  which  they 
have  to  employ. 

Even  among  those  who  tend  the  looms  there  are  some 
who  require  discernment,  sustained  attention,  and  a  certain 
technical  skill.  They  have  not  always  merely  to  weave 
carpets  by  the  piece,  in  which  the  pattern  is  repeated  in- 
definitely. Centre  carpets  and  rugs  require  more  attention, 
and  I  have  seen  girls  attending  to  looms  with  a  series  of 
shuttles  which  have  to  be  introduced  or  taken  out  of  the  way 
as  the  pattern  requires. 

I  asked  Mr.  Templeton  whether  the  hands  employed  in 
pattern-making  and  in  working  complicated  looms  served  any 
apprenticeship.  He  replied  that  they  did  not,  and  that 
apprenticeship  was  dropping  into  disuse,  but  he  was  referring 
to  the  regular  apprenticeship  for  a  fixed  period  such  as  we  have 
found  in  some  trades  which  are  still  in  the  hands  of  skilled 
workmen.  The  apprenticeship  which  is  disappearing  is  the 
preliminary  test  imposed  uniformly  on  all  future  workmen  for 
a  fixed  number  of  years,  but  it  will  always  be  necessary  for 
beginners  to  learn  what  they  do  not  know,  and  to  acquire  the 
trade  which  they  wish  to  practise.  I  saw  two  girls  who  had 
newly  come,  and  who  were  being  put  into  the  way  of  their 
work  by  a  comrade  who  was  already  perfect.  This  is  the 
form  now  assumed  by  apprenticeship.  As  soon  as  these  girls 


CHAP,  ii  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  301 

were  able  to  work  alone  they  would  be  left  to  do  so,  and  paid 
according  to  the  quantity  and  quality  of  their  work.  This  is 
no  small  advantage  for  young  girls,  who  as  a  rule  remain 
only  a  very  few  years  at  the  work,  less  in  many  cases  than 
the  length  of  the  old  apprenticeship.  Under  the  old  hand- 
loom  system  they  could  not  have  found  work  in  a  carpet 
factory,  or  they  would  have  remained  in  an  inferior  capacity, 
and  thus  they  owe  more  to  machinery  than  they  are  aware  of. 

Work  is  fairly  regular  in  Messrs.  Templeton's  factory. 
Their  customers  are  large  wholesale  firms  and  important 
furnishing  houses  who  are  obliged  to  order  in  advance,  a 
circumstance  which  tends  to  keep  production  regular.  When 
orders  are  not  very  numerous,  Messrs.  Templeton  lay  in  a  stock 
of  carpets  of  ordinary  kinds,  and  thus  their  staff  has  no  great 
reason  to  fear  unemployment.  Moreover,  Glasgow  offers 
numerous  and  varied  openings  in  the  event  of  a  crisis  in  any 
particular  industry,  and  the  sufferings  of  the  artisan  population 
are  less  cruel  than  in  towns  which  depend  on  a  single  industry, 
like  Bradford,  which  depends  on  the  woollen  trade,  or  Old- 
ham,  Kochdale,  and  the  Lancashire  towns,  which  depend  almost 
exclusively  on  cotton. 

The  Trade  Union  movement  is  not  very  marked,  for  the 
variety  of  industries  alluded  to  makes  it  less  necessary  to 
represent  and  defend  the  interests  of  the  labourer,  who  is 
secured  by  this  circumstance  against  the  terrible  risk  of 
general  unemployment. 

There  is  also  another  reason.  Glasgow  is  a  town  with 
a  very  mixed  population,  and  with  a  large  proportion  of  Irish, 
who  have  been  attracted  by  the  great  demand  for  unskilled 
labour  in  the  docks  and  the  various  factories.  The  Celtic 
populations  of  the  Highlands  and  the  Hebrides  are  also  well 
represented.  The  Irish  are  not  usually  very  amenable  to  the 
influence  of  environment,  and  find  it  difficult  to  acquire  the 
habits  of  self-respect  and  persevering  energy  of  which  they 
have  examples  before  their  eyes.  The  Highlanders  are  more 
easily  roused  to  ambition  and  to  the  desire  to  better  them- 
selves, and  they  become  modified  by  contact  with  those  influ- 
ences which  were  lacking  in  the  solitude  of  their  mountain  or 
island  homes.  Nevertheless  this  process  takes  time,  and  the 
labouring  class  is  constantly  being  recruited  by  new-comers  in 


302  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

search  of  work,  who  have  no  power  of  organisation.  The  Irish 
generally  remain  mere  labourers,  as  do  their  children  after 
them,  and  thus  a  large  proportion  of  the  working  class  in 
Glasgow  consists  of  individuals  who  are  little  adapted  for 
Trade  Unionism.  This  explains  the  scanty  membership  and 
general  weakness  of  labour  organisations  in  this  district,  a 
phenomenon  we  have  already  had  occasion  to  remark  in 
discussing  the  Scottish  Miners'  Federation. 

This  inability  to  organise  proper  representation  greatly 
handicaps  the  working  class  in  times  of  crisis.  It  makes  it 
difficult  to  establish  a  reserve  fund  against  a  period  of  unem- 
ployment, and  it  injures  the  success  of  attempts  at  arbitration 
in  the  case  of  a  strike,  as  was  shown  by  the  fruitless  efforts  of 
the  Lord  Provost  of  Glasgow  to  bring  about  an  understanding 
between  coalowners  and  men  during  the  strike  of  1894.  It 
also  occasionally  leads  to  an  ill-timed  attitude  of  bluster  when 
a  sudden  increase  in  membership  has  deceived  the  leaders  as 
to  their  real  strength,  and  leads  them  into  regrettable  struggles. 
So  far  as  Messrs.  Templeton's  factory  is  concerned,  the  relations 
between  employers  and  men  seem  satisfactory,  and  the  regu- 
larity of  employment  has  hitherto  prevented  any  great  crisis. 
It  is  well,  however,  to  point  out  that  such  crises,  if  brought 
about  by  unforeseen  circumstances,  would  probably  fall  heavily 
on  the  men,  who  have  no  power  to  avert  them. 

We  shall  now  leave  Glasgow  for  the  south  of  Scotland. 
Not  far  from  the  Border,  on  the  Tweed,  we  find  a  small  manu- 
facturing town  almost  entirely  given  up  to  the  woollen  manu- 
facture. Galashiels  is  celebrated  for  its  tweeds,  which  are 
greatly  in  demand  for  men's  clothing.  Their  reputation  is  of 
long  standing,  for  the  Galashiels  hand-loom  weavers  used  to 
produce  them  from  Tweedside  wool  long  before  the  introduction 
of  power-looms,  or  the  importation  of  colonial  wool.  The  hills 
around  Tweed  supported  a  large  number  of  sheep,  and  the 
manufacture  of  woollen  stuffs  was  a  characteristic  industry  of 
the  district. 

The  inhabitants  were  a  hard-working,  peaceful  folk,  deeply 
attached  to  their  religious  beliefs,  fine  simple  souls,  honest 
God-fearing  people,  to  quote  the  expressions  used  by  Galashiels 
people  in  speaking  of  the  history  of  their  town.  There  is 
often  a  sly  hit  at  themselves  in  this  description.  "  Nowadays," 


CHAP,  n  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  303 

I  have  heard  it  said,  "  I  suppose  we  are  pretty  sharp  business 
men,  with  an  eye  to  the  main  chance." 

A  transformation  has  undoubtedly  taken  place,  but  it  is 
not  one  to  blush  for,  notwithstanding  the  romance  which  is 
ever  associated  with  a  bygone  past.  While  the  modern 
evolution  of  industry  has  in  many  cases  ruined  local  manu- 
factures, Galashiels  has  profited  by  the  new  conditions  to 
develop  considerably.  The  causes  which  destroyed  many  a 
former  reputation  have  but  increased  hers.  Markets  opened 
for  new  products  while  others  were  closing  against  old  ones, 
and  Galashiels  succeeded  in  following  the  new  lines  of 
evolution.  This  proves  that  the  honest  and  God-fearing 
people  were  also  alive  to  what  was  going  on  in  the  world, 
and  only  needed  an  opportunity  in  order  to  become  shrewd 
business  men.  They  had  the  germs  of  the  qualities  to  which 
the  present  generation  owes  its  success,  and  the  strong  moral 
fibre  which  was  the  outcome  of  their  religious  convictions 
contributed  to  the  development  of  these  germs.  They  were 
not  unlike  the  simple  and  God-fearing  New  England  folk,  who 
founded  the  most  active  industrial  centre  in  the  United  States. 
The  simplicity  of  the  old  ways  has  disappeared  in  both 
countries  before  the  extension  of  general  wealth,  and  the 
sudden  influx  of  a  foreign  element  has  brought  corruption  in 
its  train,  but  the  true  leaders  are  still  those  who  retain  most 
of  the  old  strong  moral  fibre,  and  remain  faithful  to  it  in 
these  new  times.  They  lead  the  industrial  and  commercial 
movement  of  to-day,  as  their  fathers  of  old  cleared  the  forests 
and  brought  the  fertile  soil  under  the  plough.  They  leaven 
the  town  and  give  impulse  and  life.  The  great  mills,  ever 
active,  are  their  work,  just  as  the  peaceful,  sheltered,  rural 
community  was  their  work.  It  is  only  the  conquest  of  nature 
by  man  carried  a  step  farther,  the  subjugation  of  unknown 
forces  instead  of  the  subjugation  of  the  originally  wild  soil. 
The  phenomenon  is  the  same,  but  its  aspect  is  new,  in 
Galashiels  as  in  Massachusetts.  Virtue  is  not  necessarily 
simple  and  austere,  though  in  some  of  its  forms  it  may  be  so, 
and  the  world  can  never  do  without  virtue  allied  to  knowledge, 
activity,  energy,  and  success. 

About  1840,  I  have  been  told,  some  of  the  more  energetic 
of  the  Galashiels  weavers  established  power-looms,  and  through 


304  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

a  variety  of  favourable  circumstances,  and  more  especially  the 
increased  facilities  of  transport,  soon  developed  into  great 
manufacturers.  Most  of  the  present  millowners  are  ex-hand- 
loom  weavers  or  their  sons  and  grandsons. 

When  Australian  wool  began  to  come  into  the  English 
market,  the  Galashiels  manufacturers  were  alive  to  the 
importance  of  the  fact,  and  many  proceeded  to  the  colonies  to 
buy  on  the  spot  at  their  own  risk  and  peril.  No  telegraphic 
communication  then  existed  between  Britain  and  Australia,  and 
to  do  business  quickly  a  personal  visit  was  necessary,  but  the 
trouble  was  well  repaid  by  the  value  of  the  information 
obtained.  This  originated  a  very  profitable  branch  of  trade,  to 
which  the  development  of  G-alashiels  is  greatly  indebted. 

It  is  an  interesting  spectacle,  that  of  these  Scottish 
weavers,  buried  in  a  small  town,  threatened  with  impending  ruin 
through  the  inevitable  disappearance  of  the  old  local  industry, 
and  yet  recovering  themselves  in  this  remarkable  manner. 
They  showed  an  equal  readiness  to  accept  the  inevitable,  and 
turn  it  to  advantage,  when  the  vicissitudes  inseparable  from 
the  modern  conditions  of  industry  began  to  check  the  tide  of 
prosperity.  Between  1880  and  1884,  the  town  was  in  a 
general  state  of  industrial  depression,  and  the  population, 
which  had  increased  from  10,000  to  15,000  between  1860 
and  1880,  remained  stationary  for  three  or  four  years.  Times 
were  hard  in  the  old  country,  and  men  emigrated  to  Australia, 
New  Zealand,  and  the  United  States.  The  return  of  pros- 
perity checked  the  stream  of  emigration,  and  the  population 
again  began  to  increase,  until  in  1893  it  amounted  to  20,000 
inhabitants. 

This  readiness  to  settle  abroad  during  periods  of  crisis  at 
home,  and  to  remain  in  Scotland  and  prosper  as  long  as 
circumstances  permit,  shows  a  character  pre-eminently  well 
qualified  to  succeed  in  colonial  enterprises.  Such  emigrants 
are  neither  a  burden  to  their  country  nor  do  they  quit  it 
without  good  reason,  while  even  when  they  have  quitted  it 
they  are  still  of  advantage  to  it. 

I  was  told  of  masons  who  for  several  years  were  in  the 
habit  of  spending  the  spring  and  summer  in  the  United  States 
and  returning  to  their  homes  in  Galashiels  in  winter,  working 
there  if  any  occasion  presented  itself,  and  going  off  again  the 


CHAP,  ii  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  305 

following  spring.  It  is  clear  that  men  who  are  capable  of  such 
a  mode  of  life  are  not  at  the  mercy  of  the  first  incident  which 
interferes  with  their  ordinary  habits. 

Such  details  give  some  idea  of  the  milieu  under  observation, 
a  sphere  of  freedom  and  activity,  where  the  worker  rises  to  a 
real  degree  of  independence  through  his  ability  to  regulate 
his  own  life.  Popular  education  was  organised  in  the  south  of 
Scotland  long  before  it  was  made  compulsory  throughout  the 
United  Kingdom.  Here  again  we  trace  the  spiritualising  and 
moralising  influence  already  referred  to.  Great  efforts  have 
for  generations  been  made  to  raise  the  people  by  developing 
a  sense  of  duty,  and  by  impressing  upon  them  that  the  first 
obvious  and  profitable  duty  is  to  give  full  play,  in  a 
rational  and  spontaneous  manner,  to  the  faculties  implanted 
in  man  by  his  Creator. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  study  the  enormous  part  which 
has  been  played  in  the  extension  of  the  British  power  in  the 
nineteenth  century  by  this  small  Scottish  nation  of  not  more 
than  4,000,000  souls.  We  should  see  the  important  part 
played  by  Scotsmen  in  New  Zealand  and  Australia  as 
agricultural  colonists;  in  the  United  States,  where  the  great 
Pittsburg  factories  were  founded  by  a  man  of  Scottish  origin ; 
in  exploration,  where  Livingstone's  name  shines  with  incom- 
parable lustre;  and  in  the  intellectual  world,  where  Scotsmen 
hold  the  foremost  rank. 

But  without  going  beyond  the  limits  of  the  present  study, 
we  may  at  least  remark  the  material  and  moral  energy  which 
characterises  some  of  the  industrial  centres  of  the  Lowlands  of 
Scotland,  and  note  how  much  it  owes  to  those  enlightened 
influences  which  have  favoured  its  development.  "  You  will 
never  understand  Scotland,"  said  a  Scottish  friend,  "  unless 
you  take  into  account  the  influence  the  church  has  had  in 
making  the  people  decent,  hard-working  folk,"  and  he  was 
perfectly  right. 

In  such  an  environment,  perfectly  adapted  to  the  require- 
ments of  the  modern  system,  there  has  been  a  great  extension 
of  the  woollen  industry  which  explains  the  notable  growth  of 
the  town.  Not  that  we  find  any  of  those  enormous  mills 
of  which  we  shall  see  examples  in  other  textile  industries.  The 
Buckholm  Mill,  belonging  to  Messrs.  Brown,  one  of  the  most 

x 


3o6  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

important  mills  in  Galashiels,  employs  only  900  hands, 
although  both  spinning  and  weaving  are  done  there.  Another 
spinning  mill  which  I  visited,  owned  by  Messrs.  Laidlaw  and 
Fairgrieve,  employs  only  100  hands.  These  mills,  it  must  be 
remembered,  are  entirely  occupied  in  the  manufacture  of 
tweeds,  which  are  greatly  affected  by  every  change  of  fashion, 
and  cannot  be  produced  in  very  large  quantities.  Great  care 
has  to  be  taken  to  vary  the  patterns,  colours,  and  general 
appearance,  and  thus  manufacturers  are  prevented  from 
following  their  natural  inclination  to  compensate  for  the 
general  outlay  by  increasing  production.  This  noteworthy 
fact  has  important  consequences  on  the  general  state  of  the 
tweed  industry. 

One  consequence  we  shall  see  in  Messrs.  Brown's  mills. 
A  great  room  is  filled  with  hand-looms,  worked  by  pattern- 
weavers,  who  are  making  samples  for  the  following  seasons. 
They  are  supplied  with  a  number  of  designs  which  it  is 
thought  may  please  buyers,  and  a  sample  of  each  is  made, 
in  order  to  judge  how  it  comes  out  in  the  tweed,  and  what 
would  be  its  chance  of  popularity.  At  the  time  of  my  visit 
(30th  September  1893)  the  pattern- weavers  were  preparing 
samples  for  the  winter  of  1894  to  1895,  for  manufacturers 
require  a  year's  start,  in  order  to  choose  among  the  patterns, 
produce  the  tweeds,  and  put  them  into  the  market  before  the 
beginning  of  the  season.  When  the  preparations  for  the 
winter  of  1894  are  completed,  they  will  begin  to  prepare  for 
the  "winter  of  1895,  and  so  on.  "We  must  be  continually 
inventing,"  were  Mr.  Brown's  words. 

Side  by  side  with  the  pattern -weaving  looms,  at  which 
men  are  employed,  there  are  winders  of  an  equally  primitive 
type,  also  worked  by  hand.  They  are  turned  by  women,  who 
wind  the  wool  into  balls  as  our  grandmothers  used  to  do.  It 
is  surprising,  at  first  sight,  to  find  such  an  archaic  contrivance 
in  a  modern  factory,  but  the  explanation  is  that  a  great 
many  different  colours  are  required,  but  in  very  small  quantities, 
as  only  very  small  samples  of  each  pattern  are  woven.  Here, 
as  everywhere,  the  general  cost  of  production  by  machinery 
can  only  be  covered  when  a  very  large  quantity  has  to  be 
produced. 

The  pattern -weavers  are  skilled  workers,   and  serve  an 


CHAP,  ii  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  307 

apprenticeship,  which,  however,  lasts  only  three  instead  of  seven 
years.  They  are  paid  by  the  piece,  and  do  not  earn  more  than 
25s.  to  30s.  a  week. 

It  is  interesting  to  compare  these  wages  with  those  paid  to 
young  girls  employed  at  the  mechanical  looms,  who  are  also 
paid  by  the  piece,  and  earn  from  20s.  to  22s.  a  week.  The 
difference  is  less  sensible  here  than  in  the  industries  where 
machinery  is  but  little  developed.  Modern  industry  has 
opened  the  factories  to  women,  and  furnished  them  with 
employment,  and  the  further  evolution  proceeds,  the  more 
lucrative  does  this  employment  become.  In  a  hardware 
centre  like  Birmingham,  the  demand  for  muscular  strength 
shuts  out  women,  and  when  they  are  employed,  they  are 
poorly  paid,  owing  to  the  small  demand  for  female  labour.  In 
Galashiels,  on  the  contrary,  women  are  largely  employed,  and 
on  very  advantageous  terms.  They  begin  at  winding  machines 
at  10s.  to  14s.  a  week,  and  at  eighteen  or  so  they  are 
generally  put  to  the  looms.  Their  probation  is  neither  long 
nor  hard,  and  is  very  different  from  that  of  seven  years' 
apprenticeship,  under  the  old  system  of  organisation. 

Each  loom  is  worked  by  a  woman,  and  a  loom-tender,  who 
is  a  man,  superintends  about  a  dozen  looms.  His  chief  duty  is 
to  replace  the  beams,  the  cylinders  round  which  the  threads  of 
the  warp  are  wound.  These  cylinders  are  heavy,  and  difficult 
for  a  woman  to  handle.  The  loom -tender  is  a  sort  of  fore- 
man, and  must  have  worked  at  the  looms  himself.  I  noticed 
a  young  fellow  of  nineteen  before  one  of  the  looms,  and  was 
told  that  he  was  going  to  be  a  loom-tender.  He  began  at 
spinning,  went  on  to  weaving,  and  will  soon  be  capable  of  the 
supervision  required  from  a  loom-tender.  Further  on  in  the 
same  room  I  saw  an  elderly  man  at  a  loom,  for  whose  feeble 
arms  the  beams  were  too  heavy.  These  two  cases  show  that  a 
loom-tender  must  not  only  have  experience  but  also  physical 
strength.  Loom -tenders  earn  30s.  a  week,  which  is  not  a 
high  salary  for  a  foreman,  considering  the  wages  earned  by 
the  work-girls.  It  proves  that  technical  knowledge  is  reduced 
to  a  very  small  matter,  and  that  the  value  of  physical  strength 
has  also  depreciated.  The  high  development  which  machinery 
has  reached  in  this  industry  dispenses  almost  entirely  with 
painful  effort. 


308  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

In  the  spinning  and  washing  departments,  and  in  the 
processes  of  cleansing  and  carding,  machinery  plays  a  con- 
siderable part,  more  so  even  than  in  weaving,  if  we  include 
pattern-weaving,  where  hand-looms  only  are  used. 

I  witnessed  the  whole  process,  from  the  time  the  wool 
comes  to  the  mill  till  it  is  spun.  The  foremen  are  almost  the 
only  persons  who  can  be  definitely  classed  as  skilled  workmen, 
and  even  their  functions  are  partly  administrative,  and  require 
personal  rather  than  technical  qualifications.  The  foreman  in 
charge  of  the  carding  department  earns  £2  : 10s.  a  week.  His 
father,  who  filled  the  position  before  him,  used  to  earn  £3  : 10s. 
No  doubt  his  age  and  experience  gave  him  greater  weight, 
which  proves  that  administrative  capacity  tends  to  determine 
the  scale  of  a  foreman's  wages. 

In  the  spinning  department  a  workman  has  charge  of  four 
to  six  looms,  and  is  paid  by  the  piece  according  to  the  quantity 
spun.  Out  of  this  he  has  to  pay  as  many  boys  as  there  are 
looms,  for  superintending  them.  He  is  thus  a  contractor  on  a 
small  scale.  The  boys  begin  at  8s.  a  week  at  the  age  of  thirteen 
or  fourteen,  and  their  wages  are  gradually  raised  by  the  firm, 
who  deduct  the  amount  from  the  total  sum  due  to  the  man 
and  pay  it  directly  to  the  boys.  This  is  all  that  remains  of 
apprenticeship,  and  there  is  no  contract  between  the  employer 
and  the  boys. 

I  asked  Mr.  Brown  why  he  employed  lads  instead  of 
women,  as  is  usual  in  cotton  mills.  He  replied  that  it 
was  the  custom  in  Galashiels,  and  this  evasive  reply  was  the 
true  one.  Female  labour  is  at  a  premium,  owing  to  the 
demand  in  the  twenty-two  tweed  mills,  and  the  rate  of  wages 
is  high.  Consequently  it  pays  to  employ  boys  at  the  spinning 
looms.  They  are  not  paid  more  than  12s.  or  15s.  a  week  on 
an  average,  though  I  was  informed  that  some  got  as  much  as 
18s.  Most  of  them  look  upon  it  merely  as  a  temporary 
occupation,  to  be  taken  up  until  they  are  old  enough  to  leave 
home  and  seek  work  in  a  more  advantageous  centre. 

The  foremen  who  superintend  the  boys  do  not  generally 
earn  more  than  25s.  a  week,  and  men  do  not  find  it  profitable 
to  settle  in  Galashiels.  Those  who  stay  are  generally  induced 
to  do  so  by  the  high  wages  which  their  daughters  earn. 
There  is,  however,  a  large  tannery,  two  factories  engaged 


309 

in  manufacturing  machinery,  and  a  furniture  manufactory,  all 
of  which  employ  men  only.  Nevertheless  the  balance  is 
clearly  in  favour  of  female  labour.1  In  proof  of  this,  I  may 
mention  the  case  of  a  girl  who  was  in  service  in  Galashiels, 
where  she  earned  £16  a  year.  Yielding  to  the  attraction  of 
a  city  life,  she  went  to  Edinburgh,  where  she  found  she  could 
not  get  more  than  £13.  She  had  never  taken  into  con- 
sideration the  favoured  position  enjoyed  by  women  in  her 
native  town,  owing  to  the  number  of  occupations  open  to 
them. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  the  result  of  these  economic 
conditions  on  a  working-class  family.  In  my  various  visits 
to  the  mills  I  conversed  with  several  of  the  men,  and  found 
them  willing  to  give  me  any  information,  but  I  had  some 
difficulty  in  finding  a  typical  case.  One  man  had  only  two 
children,  whereas  the  average  family  in  Scotland  is  a  large 
one,  another  was  unmarried,  and  a  third  had  only  sons.  I 
mentioned  my  difficulty  to  one  of  the  partners  in  the  firm  of 
Laidlaw  and  Fairgrieve,  and  on  learning  it  he  pointed  out  a 
pleasant-looking  man,  and  recommended  me  to  apply  to  him. 
It  took  me  a  couple  of  minutes  to  learn  that  he  was  Thomas 
Clippendale,  a  native  of  Galashiels,  who  had  lived  there  all  his 
life,  that  he  had  six  children,  one  son  an  engineer  in  America,  a 
second  in  Newcastle,  two  daughters  working  in  mills  in  the 
town,  and  two  other  children.  I  asked  whether  I  should  be 
intruding  if  I  spent  an  evening  with  him  at  his  home,  and  an 
engagement  was  made  for  the  same  evening. 

It  was  pitch  dark  when  I  reached  Hill  Street,  and  I  had 
some  difficulty  in  finding  the  house,  which  was  number  six. 
I  had  struck  several  matches,  and  discovered  to  my  surprise 
that  number  seven  came  next  to  number  four,  when  my 
movements  attracted  the  notice  of  a  neighbour,  who  told  me 
that  number  six  was  up  the  close,  pointing  to  a  narrow  passage 
between  the  two  houses.  At  the  end  of  this  passage  I  found 
an  outside  stair  with  two  doors  at  the  top,  which  were  numbers 
five  and  six.  This  is  a  Scottish  fashion,  intended  to  give  each 

1  It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  the  Galashiels  mills  employ  more 
females  than  males.  Married  women  do  not  generally  work  in  the  mills,  and 
thus  the  quantity  of  available  female  labour  is  always  less  than  the  quantity  of 
available  male  labour. 


310  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

family  a  separate  entrance,  without  renting  the  entire  house. 
Each  block  has  four  doors,  two  opening  on  to  the  main  street 
and  admitting  to  the  two  flats  on  the  ground  floor,  and  two 
up  the  close,  at  the  top  of  a  stone  staircase  giving  access  to 
the  flats  on  the  first  storey.  Such  an  arrangement  combines 
economy  with  independence.  On  the  other  hand,  it  gives  less 
accommodation  to  each  family,  and  English  working  men  in 
the  same  circumstances  would  not  consent  to  be  so  crowded 
in  a  small  town  like  Galashiels. 

The  front  door  led  into  a  narrow  passage,  out  of  which 
opened,  on  the  left,  the  principal  room,  in  which  I  was  re- 
ceived. It  was  a  kitchen,  measuring  about  13  feet  9  inches 
by  15  feet,  and  containing  two  beds,  a  sofa,  two  arm-chairs,  a 
table,  a  sideboard,  and  three  or  four  chairs.  When  we  were 
all  seated,  father,  mother,  three  daughters,  and  myself,  there 
was  no  room  to  turn,  and  the  heat  of  the  stove  was  suffocating. 
Another  very  narrow  room  contained  a  bed,  and  there  was 
also  an  attic  under  the  roof,  reached  by  a  ladder  from  the 
passage.  To  my  surprise  I  learned  that  the  rent  was  £7  :  6s. 
a  year,  without  taxes,  which  at  3s.  in  the  £1  on  the  rateable 
value  make  a  total  of  about  £8  : 12s.  A  better  house  could 
certainly  be  got  for  this  rent  in  Manchester  or  the  Lancashire 
manufacturing  towns,  where  a  rent  of  3s.  6d.  a  week  (includ- 
ing taxes),  amounting  to  a  little  over  £9  a  year,  would  secure 
a  separate  house  with  a  good-sized  room  on  each  floor  and  a 
little  free  space.  Clippendale  has  a  bit  of  garden  at  the  back 
of  the  house,  but  even  with  this  the  house  is  dear.  I  was 
told  that  the  use  of  stone,  which  is  abundant  and  of  very  fine 
quality,  is  more  expensive  than  brick,  and  further  that  the 
land  of  Galashiels  is  in  the  hands  of  a  single  landlord,  who 
can  make  his  own  terms  and  obtain  a  high  feu-duty.1  I  suspect, 
however,  that  the  habits  of  the  people  have  something  to  do 
with  the  rent  paid  for  such  narrow  accommodation.  With 
the  help  of  Building  Societies,  and  by  substituting  brick  for 
stone,  English  workmen  have  succeeded  in  getting  better 
houses,  and  would  refuse  to  be  packed  so  tightly.  House- 
owners  would  either  be  obliged  to  build  differently,  or  they 

1  According  to  information  furnished  by  the  chamberlain  of  Galashiels,  the 
feu-duty  amounts  to  £30  or  £40  an  acre.  An  ordinary  house  for  four  families 
generally  pays  an  annual  feu-duty  of  £3,  and  costs  from  £500  to  £600  to  build. 


CHAP,  ii  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  311 

would  find  it  difficult  to  get  tenants  except  at  a  low  rent. 
Here,  on  the  contrary,  when  a  working  man  lives  in  his 
own  house,  he  lives  in  one  quarter  of  the  house  and  lets 
the  other  three.  He  is  evidently  comfortable  as  he  is,  a 
trait  of  Scottish  life  which  we  have  had  occasion  to  remark 
before. 

The  room  in  which  we  sat,  though  small,  seemed  to  be 
kept  with  great  care,  although  it  is  true  that  my  visit  was  not 
unexpected.  The  two  young  women  appeared  to  have 
smartened  themselves  a  little  in  honour  of  my  visit,  but 
Clippendale  was  still  wearing  the  working  clothes  in  which  I 
had  seen  him  in  the  afternoon.  The  hearty  tone  of  his 
answers  prevented  any  suspicion  that  they  were  premeditated. 

I  first  inquired  as  to  the  family  income.  The  mother,  of 
course,  earns  nothing,  but  the  two  daughters  who  work  in  the 
mills  add  their  wages  to  the  25s.  a  week  earned  by  their 
father.  One  of  them,  whom  I  questioned  as  to  the  total  she 
earned,  looked  at  her  parents  before  answering,  as  if  it  were 
their  business.1  The  eldest,  who  has  worked  for  fourteen  years 
in  a  cloth  mill,  and  is  at  present  employed  at  a  machine  for 
winding  thread  on  the  bobbins,  earns  £1  a  week,  and  the 
second,  a  girl  of  twenty  or  twenty-one,  who  has  been  in  the 
same  mill  for  seven  years,  earns  17s.  or  18s. 

Living  in  Galashiels  is  very  much  the  same  as  we  have 
seen  in  other  parts  of  Great  Britain,  though  the  frugality  of 
Scottish  habits  diminishes  the  amount  spent  on  food.  Mrs. 
Clippendale,  who  comes  from  the  Highlands,  makes  porridge 
every  morning,  and,  by  the  way,  her  recipe  was  quite  different 
from  all  the  others  which  had  been  given  to  me !  Less  meat  is 
eaten  than  in  England,  and  two  Co-operative  Societies  tend  to 

1  So  far  as  I  could  gather,  it  is  not  the  rule  for  mill  girls  to  hand  over  the 
whole  of  their  wages  to  their  parents.  Some  do  so,  like  Clippendale's  daughters, 
but  most  of  them  pay  a  fixed  sum  for  board  and  spend  the  rest  as  they  please. 
I  was  told  that  in  Galashiels  the  usual  payment  for  board  was  7s.  or  8s.  in  the 
case  of  girls,  and  sometimes  as  much  as  12s.  for  young  men.  I  have  often  heard 
in  various  manufacturing  towns  that  mothers  and  daughters  frequently  disagree 
on  the  question  of  dress.  When  a  girl  pays  all  her  earnings  into  the  common 
purse,  she  has  to  account  for  what  she  spends  whenever  she  dips  into  it.  It  is 
generally  boots,  dresses,  and  hats  about  which  a  question  arises,  the  mother 
insisting  that  the  old  ones  are  still  quite  fit  to  wear,  and  the  daughter  replying 
that  she  has  a  right  to  what  she  earns.  A  fixed  payment  for  board  prevents 
these  disputes,  which  frequently  take  an  angry  turn. 


312  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

lower  the  price  of  other  commodities.  Clippendale  gave  me 
to  understand  that  these  Societies  offer  an  advantageous  in- 
vestment to  working  men,  and  I  gathered  that  he  was  speaking 
from  experience. 

This,  then,  is  a  family  whose  material  needs  are  well  pro- 
vided for.  The  marriage  of  the  daughters  would,  however, 
disturb  this  happy  state  of  things,  for  without  their  wages 
the  parents'  home  would  not  be  very  well  supported,  and  the 
married  daughters  would  have  nothing  but  their  husbands' 
earnings.  I  was  not  surprised  to  find  a  young  woman  of 
seven  or  eight  and  twenty  unmarried,  for  she  would  be  less 
comfortably  off  after  marriage,  unless  she  married  a  first-class 
workman.  We  shall  not  find  in  Galashiels  that  girls 
marry  anybody  when  they  are  twenty  as  they  do  in  mining 
villages.  The  high  wages  paid  in  the  textile  industry  make 
them  willing  to  remain  single,  or  to  accept  serious  attentions 
only,  and  have  the  double  advantage  of  rendering  them  more 
independent  and  less  hasty  in  taking  the  most  serious  step 
in  a  woman's  life. 

Clippendale's  two  sons  began  by  working  under  their 
father  in  Messrs  Laidlaw  and  Fairgrieve's  mills.  As  foreman 
of  a  shift  Clippendale  can  chose  what  boys  he  employs,  subject 
to  the  approval  of  his  employers,  who  have  no  objection  to  their 
men  employing  sons  of  their  own,  provided  the  lads  fulfil  the 
conditions  required  by  the  Factory  and  Education  Acts.  Many 
weavers  employ  their  sons  under  their  own  supervision,  and  it 
is  a  good  opening  for  the  lads,  none  of  whom  earn  less  than 
8s.  a  week.  Clippendale,  in  comparing  the  new  state  of  things 
with  the  old,  told  me  that  he  served  three  years'  apprenticeship 
in  a  hand-mill  and  began  at  4s.  a  week. 

At  first  sight  it  seems  that  this  custom  of  entering  the 
father's  trade  and  working  under  his  supervision  would 
form  a  link  difficult  to  break  in  the  future,  and  that  the 
lads  would  be  condemned  to  work  all  their  lives  in  cloth  mills. 
We  saw  that  such  a  result  was  brought  about  among  miners, 
where  a  boy  goes  down  the  pit  with  his  father  at  the  age  of 
fourteen  or  so,  becomes  a  collier  on  his  own  account  at 
eighteen,  and  remains  a  collier  for  the  term  of  his  natural  life. 
Here,  however,  almost  all  the  lads  who  begin  in  the  mills  leave 
them  later  on,  and  there  is  no  better  proof  that  the  textile 


CHAP,  ii  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  313 

industry  has  reached  a  much  more  advanced  stage  of  evolution 
than  the  mining  industry,  than  the  fact  that  it  pushes  young 
men  out  into  the  world,  instead  of  attaching  them  to  its  own 
fortunes. 

It  is,  however,  a  great  advantage  to  be  able  to  earn  8s.,  10s., 
12s.,  or  more  a  week  on  leaving  school,  and  while  still  living 
at  home,  but  the  development  of  machinery  which  makes 
this  possible  also  tends  to  bring  down  the  wages  of  grown 
men.  Clippendale  earns  only  5s.  a  week  more  than  his 
eldest  daughter.  The  mill,  therefore,  does  not  offer  a  very 
brilliant  career  to  young  men,  and  as  it  employs  but  few 
in  any  case,  there  is  no  choice  but  to  leave  it  and  seek  work 
elsewhere. 

Thus  the  occupation  is  essentially  temporary  in  the  case  of 
boys.  Clippendale  kept  his  two  eldest  sons  till  they  were 
seventeen,  when  they  left  Galashiels.  The  eldest,  who  is  now 
twenty-seven,  went  as  apprentice  to  an  engineer,  and  works  in 
Newcastle,  in  one  of  the  great  shipbuilding  and  gunmaking 
works,  employing,  as  his  father  told  me,  17,000  men.  The 
second  went  to  America,  to  a  sister  of  his  father's  who  had 
settled  at  "Worcester  in  Massachusetts.  "  He  was  too  young," 
said  Clippendale,  "  to  be  sent  abroad  without  anybody  to  look 
after  him."  This  is  very  Scotch !  The  motive  of  emigration 
is,  more  often  than  in  England,  to  rejoin  a  relation  or  friend, 
and  the  Scot  dislikes  complete  isolation.  A  Scotsman  who 
has  done  well  abroad  will  often  invite  a  compatriot  and  pay 
his  passage.  This  clannishness  is  a  mark  for  English  sarcasm. 
"  I'll  be  hanged  if  you  ever  catch  me  sending  any  money  for  a 
friend  to  come  out  here,"  said  a  Queensland  colonist  to  me. 
"  I  left  Lancashire  with  my  own  money  and  with  nobody's  help 
but  my  own.  Let  others  do  the  same  and  come  to  Australia 
if  they  like."  Such  a  sentiment  would  have  scandalised 
Clippendale,  and  most  other  Scotsmen.  Clippendale's  sister 
crossed  the  Atlantic  to  join  her  intended  husband,  who  was 
doing  well  in  Worcester,  and  she  has  induced  her  nephew 
to  come  out,  who  in  his  turn  is  doing  well.  The  strength 
of  family  ties  among  the  Lowland  Scots  has  been  a  fruitful 
and  effective  cause  of  the  expansion  of  the  Scottish  people 
and  not  an  impediment  to  it. 

Clippendale  has  a  third  son,  a  youth  of  eighteen,  apprenticed 


314  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

to  an  engineer  in  a  neighbouring  town,  in  Selkirk,  I  think  he 
said.  When  the  two  elder  sons  were  in  Laidlaw  and  Fairgrieve's 
mills  the  family  income  was  much  smaller  than  at  present,  for 
the  daughters  were  earning  little  or  nothing,  and  the  lads  had 
therefore  to  remain  longer  in  Galashiels,  as  their  wages  were  a 
consideration.  Now,  however,  the  income  is  larger,  and  the 
remaining  son  has  been  emancipated  earlier  and  helped  a  little 
at  the  start.  An  engineer's  apprentice  earns  only  3s.  a  week 
to  begin  with,  with  an  increase  of  Is.  a  year.  Apprenticeship 
lasts  six  instead  of  seven  years,  as  the  Amalgamated  Union 
of  Engineers  has  but  few  members  in  this  district  and  cannot 
enforce  its  restrictions. 

The  Clippendales  are  also  more  ambitious  for  their  third 
daughter  than  for  her  two  elder  sisters.  We  always  find  the 
same  thing,  that  is  to  say,  that  when  working-class  families 
begin  to  be  in  easier  circumstances,  as  the  number  of  wage- 
earners  living  at  home  increases,  they  spend  more  on  the 
education  of  the  younger  children,  while  the  elder  ones  are  to 
some  extent  sacrificed  to  the  necessity  for  making  both  ends 
meet.  Thus  the  youngest  little  girl,  who  is  only  eleven,  told 
me  in  a  very  decided  way  that  she  was  going  to  be  a  teacher 
and  not  a  mill  girl,  and  her  parents  only  smiled.  She  will 
hardly  be  able  to  keep  herself  before  she  is  twenty,  but  her 
parents  will  find  the  means. 

The  trade  which  furnishes  this  family  with  wages  is  also 
in  a  position  to  guarantee  regular  employment.  The  backward- 
ness of  the  Trade  Union  movement  in  Galashiels  is  no  doubt 
due  to  the  absence  of  crises  of  unemployment,  and  to  the  high 
wages  which  the  manufacturers  have  always  been  willing  to 
pay  to  their  hands.  Clippendale  told  me  that  there  was  no 
Union  so  far  as  he  knew,  and  his  statement  was  confirmed 
from  other  sources.  The  chamberlain  told  me  there  had  been 
no  strike  since  1849,  and  that  the  relations  between  masters 
and  men  were  satisfactory.  The  employers  called  my  attention 
to  the  fact  that  wages  had  risen  from  20  to  30  per  cent  in 
the  last  few  years,  notwithstanding  the  absence  of  any  organisa- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  men. 

Mr.  Brown,  ex-M.P.  for  the  Border  Burghs,  the  head  of  the 
firm  of  Brown  Brothers,  gave  me  the  key  of  the  riddle.  Two 
causes  contribute  to  this  remarkable  state  of  social  peace  and 


CHAP,  ii  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  315 

economic  prosperity,  the  character  of  the  inhabitants,  and  the 
nature  of  the  industry. 

The  inhabitants,  as  we  have  remarked,  are  inclined  towards 
distant  ventures,  bold  decisions,  and  emigration,  and  it  needs 
good  wages  to  induce  them  to  stay  at  home.  Otherwise  they 
would  go,  or  only  the  less  capable  would  stay.  A  man  with 
whom  I  had  a  chat  told  me  quite  as  a  matter  of  course  that 
his  seven  brothers,  his  mother,  and  his  sister  were  in  America. 
One  of  his  brothers  earned  £2000  a  year,  and  another  was 
starting  a  drug  store.  Two  of  them  had  not  done  well,  but  that 
was  their  own  fault.  Such  cases,  which  are  very  numerous,  are 
a  constant  reminder  that  a  man  can  make  a  living  outside 
Galashiels.  If  things  become  too  hard  in  their  native  town 
they  can  go  and  do  better  elsewhere  as  others  have  done. 
This  the  employers  know  and  they  very  prudently  take  it  into 
account. 

In  the  next  place,  when  machine  power  was  first  applied 
to  the  manufacture  of  tweeds,  there  was  no  temptation  to  attract 
a  crowd  of  outsiders  who  were  readier  to  take  a  low  wage,  and 
swamp  the  local  population  with  a  more  or  less  disorganised 
element.  Tweeds  of  a  particular  kind  cannot  be  produced 
recklessly,  for  patterns  must  be  constantly  varied,  lest  the 
market  should  become  overstocked  with  one  class  of  goods 
which  might  lose  its  hold  on  the  popular  taste.  "  Our  trade," 
said  Mr.  Brown,  "  depends  on  novelty ;  we  do  anything  for  a 
little  change.  In  my  opinion,"  he  added,  "this  contributes 
greatly  to  keeping  the  balance  normal,  and  it  is  on  this  account 
that  our  trade  is  in  a  healthy  state."  It  is  certainly  an  excel- 
lent hygienic  condition,  preventing  over-production  and  the 
crises  of  unemployment  which  over-production  causes. 

The  spinning  of  yarns  for  the  manufacture  of  tweeds  is 
also  indirectly  affected.  Most  of  the  mills  are  engaged  both  in 
spinning  and  weaving,1  and  those  which  are  engaged  in  spinning 
only  must  be  guided  by  the  needs  of  the  special  branch 
of  weaving  in  which  their  yarns  are  employed.  They  have 
no  other  market,  for  the  yarns  intended  for  tweeds  cannot 
be  employed  for  other  stuffs,  nor  for  hosiery,  and  only  a 
small  proportion  is  exported.  Messrs.  Laidlaw  and  Fairgrieve 

1  Out  of  twenty-two  tweed  mills  in  Galashiels,  two  are  occupied  exclusively 
with  weaving  and  three  with  spinning,  the  rest  do  both. 


316  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

told  me  that  only  a  tenth  of  their  yarns  are  sent  out  of  the 
United  Kingdom  to  France.  Thus  this  industry  is  closely 
dependent  on  the  home  or  rather  the  local  market. 

The  manufacture  of  tweeds  employs  wools  of  different 
qualities  and  kinds,  according  to  the  tweeds  in  fashion.  In 
the  raw  material  department  of  Messrs.  Laidlaw  and  Fairgrieve's 
mills,  I  saw  Cape  wool,  Australian  wool,  New  Zealand  wool, 
and  English  Cheviot  wool  for  Cheviot  tweeds.  The  Cheviot 
wool  has  not  yet  found  a  successful  rival,  though  attempts 
have  been  made  to  substitute  the  wool  of  the  New  Zealand 
cross-bred  sheep,  which  is  long  and  resisting ;  but  though  this 
wool  is  less  rough  than  the  Cheviot  wool,  it  is  inferior  in  resist- 
ance. There  were  merino  wools  for  Saxony  tweed,  which 
is  a  softer  and  inferior  kind  of  tweed.  There  were  also 
skin  wools,  or  wools  shorn  off  skins  to  be  tanned,  the 
quality  of  which  has  been  injured  by  the  lime  used  in  the 
tanning  process,  and  which  are  only  suitable  for  a  few  special 
uses. 

It  is  obvious  that  no  wool  spinner  can  venture  to  work  up 
any  particular  variety  of  wool  without  knowing  in  what 
quantity  it  will  be  required  for  weaving.  He  must  work  to 
order,  and  I  was  informed  by  Messrs.  Laidlaw  and  Fairgrieve 
that  orders  are  sent  direct  from  the  weaver  to  the  spinner. 
This  shows  how  close  is  the  link  between  these  two  industries, 
and  how  directly  the  circumstances  which  we  have  seen 
affecting  weaving  also  affect  spinning. 

They  have  also  an  indirect  effect  upon  another  industry. 
I  visited  the  tannery  of  Messrs.  Sanderson  and  Murray,  in  the 
heart  of  the  town.  Most  of  the  men  employed  are  skilled 
workmen,  for  practice  and  a  certain  dexterity  are  required  to 
remove  the  wool  without  injury  to  the  skin,  as  well  as  in  sort- 
ing the  wool,  dressing  the  skins,  and  preparing  the  lime  baths. 
I  was  told  that  five  years'  apprenticeship  is  the  rule.  There 
is,  however,  no  Trade  Union,  for  the  160  men  employed  by 
Messrs.  Sanderson  and  Murray  are  not  in  an  environment 
favourable  to  Trade  Unionism.  Their  work  is  regular,  although 
the  tannery  stopped  work  for  a  part  of  1892,  and  as  their 
daughters  go  to  the  mills,  and  their  lads  to  the  spinning  mills, 
the  absence  of  the  father's  wages  for  a  week  or  two  does  not 
bring  the  family  into  extremities.  Thus  the  prosperity  of  the 


CHAP,  ii  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  317 

tweed  industry  has  an  important  bearing  on  the  position  of 
tanners  in  Galashiels. 

We  must  now  leave  this  special  branch  of  the  woollen 
manufacture  in  order  to  observe  a  more  general  type.  Brad- 
ford, in  Yorkshire,  one  of  the  most  famous  centres  of  this 
manufacture,  is  the  example  I  have  chosen. 

Bradford  offers  especially  favourable  conditions,  as  a  town 
essentially  industrial  and  almost  exclusively  engaged  in  the 
woollen  manufacture.  In  1820  it  was  a  mere  village,  to-day 
it  has  200,000  inhabitants,  an  increase  due  entirely  to  the 
development  of  this  manufacture.  The  phenomena  which 
present  themselves  there  will  therefore  probably  be  less  en- 
tangled than  elsewhere. 

I  visited  the  Greenwood  Mills  under  the  escort  of  Mr. 

H ,  the  son  of  the  director,  who  had  spent  thirteen  months 

at  Eoubaix  about  1870,  and  seemed  well  acquainted  with  the 
textile  industries  of  Northern  France,  a  circumstance  which 

facilitated  my  inquiry,  as  Mr.  H was  able  to  furnish  me 

with  points  of  comparison  whenever  I  asked  him  for  explanations. 

The  mills  employ  800  persons  of  both  sexes,  but  only  a 
small  part  of  these  are  skilled  workmen.  The  only  really 
delicate  task  is  the  sorting  process,  for  which  the  sorters  have 
to  be  experts  in  wool,  and  must  have  served  an  apprentice- 
ship. They  generally  begin  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  and  are  paid 
8s.  a  week  for  the  first  year,  but  in  the  second  year,  though 
still  apprentices,  they  are  paid  by  the  piece,  like  ordinary 
workmen,  though  6s.  is  deducted  from  their  total  weekly  earn- 
ings as  a  set-off  for  the  time  which  an  experienced  foreman 
has  to  spend  in  superintending  them.  As  Bradford  contains 
a  large  number  of  mills  of  the  same  kind,  formal  contracts  are 
made  between  the  master  and  his  apprentices  for  the  whole 
period  of  apprenticeship,  without  which  either  side  might  see 
fit  to  break  the  bargain. 

The  other  workers,  excluding  the  sorters,  are  not  skilled 
workmen.  The  machine  does  the  work,  and  they  have  only 
to  attend  to  the  machine.  The  wool  after  being  washed  and 
dried  is  combed,  an  operation  which  corresponds  for  the  finer 
kinds  of  cloth  to  the  carding  of  the  rougher  wools  used  for 
tweeds.  The  wool,  when  combed,  is  spun  and  woven  without 
any  further  effort,  except  that  of  superintending  the  machinery. 


3i8  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

Weaving  looms  are  generally  served  by  women,  as  in 
Galashiels,  but  the  wages  they  earn  are  not  so  high,  and  16s. 
a  week  was  mentioned  as  a  maximum  rarely  reached.  Little 
girls  earn  from  8s.  to  8s.  6d.,  and  half-timers  get  3s.  6d.  a 
week.  In  Bradford  a  child  of  twelve  who  has  passed  the 
fourth  standard  may  be  employed  as  a  half-timer,  and  may 
work  full  time  when  he  can  pass  the  sixth  standard.  A 
member  of  the  Bradford  School  Board,  who  gave  me  this 
information,  drew  my  attention  to  the  drawbacks  of  the  system. 
"  Children,"  he  said,  "  hurry  through  their  standards  to  get  rid 
of  school,  and  may  leave  for  good  at  twelve  years  of  age,  which 
is  much  too  soon."  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  only  fair  to  free 
satisfactory  scholars  from  restrictions  which  prevent  them  from 
earning  their  living,  and  no  doubt  those  who  are  in  the 
greatest  hurry  to  enter  the  factory  are  not,  in  the  long  run, 
the  least  cultivated. 

The  scale  of  women's  wages  is  lower  in  Bradford  than  in 
Galashiels,  although  the  skill  required  seems  to  be  the  same, 
and  at  first  sight  the  difference  is  difficult  to  explain.  The 
only  causes  I  can  suggest  are,  first,  that  in  a  town  of  200,000 
inhabitants,  even  when  like  Bradford  it  owes  its  large  popula- 
tion to  the  development  of  the  woollen  manufacture,  the  supply 
of  female  labour  is  much  more  abundant  than  in  a  small 
town  of  20,000  persons.  The  daughters  of  shopkeepers  and 
employe's  of  all  sorts  compete  with  the  girls  of  the  working 
class  for  employment  in  the  factories,  while  in  Galashiels  retail 
trades,  banks,  and  transport  industries  employ  only  a  very  few 
persons.  Secondly,  the  population  of  Bradford  is  less  homo- 
geneous, and,  as  a  whole,  of  a  somewhat  lower  class.  The 
suddenness  of  its  development  attracted  a  number  of  different 
elements — Irish  agricultural  families,  and  people  in  search  of 
work,  driven  from  home  by  failure  or  poverty,  and  ready  to 
accept  relatively  low  wages. 

If,  however,  the  rapid  extension  of  the  woollen  manufacture 
in  Bradford  has  led  to  this  influx  of  heterogeneous  elements,  it 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  it  has  secured  them  regular  work. 
Unemployment  is  rare,  and  the  woollen  manufacture  has  grown 
steadily  for  the  last  ten  years,  without  leading  to  over-produc- 
tion except  in  rare  cases.  It  is,  doubtless,  to  these  happy 
conditions  that  we  must  attribute  the  satisfactory  relations 


CHAP,  n  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  319 

between  masters  and  men,  and  the  infrequeucy  of  strikes.  In 
the  winter  of  1893,  during  the  long  interruption  of  the  textile 
industries  of  Lancashire,  the  woollen  mills  of  Yorkshire  did  not 
stop.  At  the  time  of  my  visit  in  June  1893  a  strike  was 
going  on  in  one  of  the  mills,  owing  to  a  dispute  between  the 
employers  and  the  sorters,  but  it  was  an  individual  and  not  a 

general  matter.  Mr  H told  me  that  the  firm  had  recently 

purchased  a  lot  of  wool  of  inferior  quality  and  very  difficult 
to  sort,  and  at  the  existing  rate  the  sorters  could  not  make 
their  usual  wages,  and  consequently  asked  for  an  alteration. 
This  small  quarrel  did  not  in  any  way  threaten  the  peace  of 
the  industry  as  a  whole. 

At  the  time  of  my  visit  to  the  Greenwood  Mills  trade  was 
extremely  busy,  and  the  men  were  working  overtime  every 
day,  as  the  ordinary  week  of  fifty-six  hours  was  insufficient  for 
the  execution  of  the  numerous  orders  on  hand.  Bright  goods 
made  of  South  American  and  Cape  wool  were  very  fashionable 
both  in  England  and  abroad.  Mohairs  were  also  very  popular, 
and  in  the  spinning  department  I  saw  a  large  number  of 
spindles  engaged  in  spinning  the  long  wool  of  the  Turkish 
goat,  of  which  mohairs  are  made.1  However,  the  same  caprice 
of  fashion  which  is  of  advantage  at  one  time  is  a  danger  at 
another.  It  is  true  that  this  danger  is  lessened  by  the  variety 
of  the  goods  which  are  manufactured  in  these  mills,  but 
nevertheless  a  crisis  would  occur  if  bright  goods  suddenly  lost 
their  popularity. 

In  what  position,  then,  is  the  population  of  Bradford  for 
meeting  such  a  crisis  ?  To  judge  of  this  we  must  see  some- 
thing of  working-class  families.  I  visited  several  working- 
class  dwellings,  many  of  which  were  well  built  and  respect- 
able in  appearance.  I  saw  none  of  the  London  tenements,  and 
no  contrivances  for  crowding  four  families  into  one  house,  as 
in  Scotland.  Notwithstanding  the  mixture  of  heterogeneous 
elements  in  the  working  class,  and  the  large  number  of  Irish, 
the  English  system  of  the  separate  home  prevails.  It  is  true 
there  are  a  considerable  number  of  houses  built  back  to  back, 

J,  About  1,300,000  Ibs.  of  mohair  yarn  of  English  manufacture  have  been 
annually  exported  to  France  for  some  years,  and  in  1893  the  total  increased  to 
2,000,000  Ibs.  The  advantage  was  chiefly  felt  by  Bradford.  (Report  of  Messrs. 
Grandgeorge  and  Tabourier,  already  quoted,  p.  70.) 


320  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  m 

without  any  space  between,  and  with  no  yard  or  free  space, 
but  a  recent  bye-law  of  the  Local  Board  of  Health  has  re- 
fused to  sanction  the  erection  of  back -to -back  houses,  and 
stipulated  for  a  passage  of  not  less  than  two  yards  between  the 
backs  of  each  two. 

This  question  of  back-to-back  houses  is  a  suggestive  one. 
We  find  in  Bradford  a  section  of  the  working  class  which  is 
perfectly  contented  with  such  houses,  which  desires  cheap- 
ness before  everything,  and  is  not  hard  to  please.  There  is, 
however,  a  general  desire  for  better  things,  a  striving  for 
respectability  and  for  a  decent  material  life,  and  this  finds 
expression  in  the  bye-law  referred  to  above. 

This  is  only  one  indication  of  a  radical  difference  between 
two  well  -  differentiated  types.  On  the  one  hand,  there 
are  the  inefficient,  who  are  attracted  by  the  facilities  of 
employment  offered  by  a  manufacturing  town,  but  who 
are  not  qualified  to  derive  the  full  benefit  from  them. 
The  other  class  consists  of  the  vigorous  and  efficient,  who 
succeed  in  extracting  the  very  utmost  from  modern  con- 
ditions of  labour,  and  who  have  transformed  the  village 
into  a  rich  and  active  town.  This  is  the  directing  class. 
But  the  other  class  is  nevertheless  compact.  It  is  little 
affected  by  progress,  for  it  assimilates  with  difficulty,  and  it  is 
a  heavy  drag  upon  the  whole.  A  crisis  would  be  disastrous  to 
this  class,  for  even  in  periods  of  general  prosperity  it  suffers, 
stumbling  over  every  stone  in  its  way,  and  wounded  by  every 
thorn. 

The  Irish  element  forms  the  bulk  of  this  class,  and  by 
examining  their  position  we  shall  be  better  able  to  form  an 
idea  of  the  nature  of  the  failings  which  keep  them  in  poverty 
or  mediocrity.  A  Roman  Catholic  priest  accompanied  me  in 
my  quest,  and  together  we  visited  some  of  the  houses  in  his 
parish.  I  select  a  few  samples. 

We  found  a  family  of  eleven  persons,  father,  mother,  and 
nine  children,  occupying  a  back -to -back  house,  containing 
one  room  downstairs,  one  room  upstairs,  a  small  coal-house, 
and  a  recess  with  a  tap  for  washing.  The  rent  was  4s.  6d.  a 
week,  and  the  family  were  on  the  point  of  moving  to  a  more 
expensive  house,  owing  to  the  want  of  room.  "  Good  people, 
these,"  said  the  priest.  "  The  children  are  beginning  to  go  to 


CHAP,  ii  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  321 

the  mills,  which  is  making  them  better  off,  but  I  don't  think 
that  any  of  their  children  will  ever  rise  above  their  class.  They 
have  no  ambition  and  never  see  further  than  to-morrow." 

From  this  point  of  view  the  next  family  was  a  more 
favourable  specimen.  There  was  a  small  garden  in  front  of 
the  house,  and  a  comfortably  furnished  sitting-room  distinct 
from  the  kitchen.  Two  daughters  were  at  work  in  mills,  and 
the  father,  formerly  a  working  lithographer,  had  just  set  up  on 
his  own  account  and  seemed  to  be  doing  well  Here  there 
was  evidently  a  tendency  to  rise.  The  priest  told  me  that 
this  man  and  his  wife  were  Yorkshire  people,  who  had 
recently  become  Eoman  Catholics.  Here,  therefore,  we  are 
getting  out  of  the  Irish  milieu. 

"We  next  visited  a  young  Irishwoman.  The  house  was  new, 
and  everything  had  been  cleaned  till  it  shone.  The  rent  was 
5s.  6d.  a  week,  but  there  was  a  very  great  difference  between 
the  back-to-back  house  at  4s.  6d.  and  this  pleasant  house, 
which  had  a  little  grass  in  front,  and  contained  a  sitting-room, 
a  small  kitchen,  a  back  kitchen,  a  tiny  yard,  and  two  rooms 
upstairs.  "  Everybody  might  have  a  home  like  that,"  was  the 
priest's  comment,  "  but  the  public-house,  idleness,  indifference, 
and  irregularities  of  one  sort  and  another  prevent  it." 

We  entered  an  untidy  house,  in  which  a  young  man  was 
dozing  over  the  kitchen  fire.  It  was  Monday,  and  he  had  not 
yet  got  over  his  Saturday  drinking-bout.  The  mother  was  ill 
in  bed,  and  the  daughter  had  remained  away  from  school  to 
nurse  her.  The  priest  administered  a  talking-to  to  this  great 
lout  of  thirty,  whose  unsteady  eyes  and  generally  besotted 
appearance  bore  witness  to  his  recent  debauch.  I  do  not 
know  whether  this  sobered  him  a  little,  but  we  were  hardly 
in  the  street  before  he  came  running  after  us.  He  took  the 
priest  aside  and  asked  if  I  were  a  police  inspector,  and  when 
reassured  on  this  point,  he  began  to  promise  that  he  would 
never  do  it  again,  and  that  in  future  he  would  go  to  mass  on 
Sunday  and  to  work  on  Monday.  He  was  nothing  but  an 
overgrown  child,  and  notwithstanding  his  promises  the  whiskey 
would  easily  get  the  better  of  him  again. 

Next  we  found  a  family  struggling  bravely  against  mis- 
fortune. The  father  was  not  only  blind,  but  paralysed  in  both 
legs,  yet  he  managed  to  work  at  basket-making.  The  mother 

Y 


322  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

kept  a  little  shop,  where  she  sold  odds  and  ends  like  cheese, 
potatoes,  and  petroleum.  There  were  eight  children,  and  yet 
the  house  was  fairly  clean.  One  child  worked  half  time  and 
another  full  time  in  a  mill,  and  they  managed  to  get  along.1 

The  sight  of  this  brave  struggle  to  keep  the  wolf  from  the 
door  was  cheering  whilst  it  was  pathetic.  It  was  touching 
to  see  the  simple  heroism  with  which  these  poor  souls  accepted 
their  hard  lot,  and  one  felt  a  sort  of  irritation  at  finding,  only 
a  few  doors  away,  families  without  any  energy  or  spring,  the 
easy  prey  of  any  circumstance  which  was  against  them.  Many 
a  house  bore  witness  to  an  idle  and  shiftless  mother.  The 
children  were  unkempt,  and  were  either  not  at  school  or  else 
failed  to  pass  their  standards.  The  good  priest  did  not  spare 
well-meant  reproof,  recommending  a  little  care  in  outward 
things,  or  expressing  surprise  that  a  particular  child  was  not 
earning  his  living.  "What,  still  a  half-timer  at  his  age! 
And  this  one,  hasn't  he  begun  to  work  ? "  His  flock  accepted 
his  advice  and  reproof  with  docility  and  submission,  but 
docility  is  not  strength,  and  submission  cannot  produce  energy 
and  go.  This  is  the  essential  want  in  the  Irish  character, 
admirable  enough  in  its  passivity  and  patience,  but  the  easy 
prey  of  drunkenness,  and  incapable  of  pushing  to  the  front. 
Thus,  even  in  an  active  centre  like  Bradford,  the  Irish  remain 
inert  while  those  around  are  getting  on  in  the  world,  and  not- 
withstanding the  thousand  and  one  openings  offered  to  bold 
initiative,  they  remain  in  inferior  positions  at  inferior  work,  and 
take  no  active  and  spontaneous  share  in  the  stirring  life  around 
them.  They  are  a  permanent  source  of  danger,  and  through 

1  Here,  of  course,  the  double  affliction  of  the  father,  who  is  both  blind  and 
paralysed,  is  quite  exceptional.  But  one  malady,  consumption,  is  extremely 
common  in  Bradford,  and  claims  many  victims.  In  many  of  the  houses 
visited  I  saw  young  girls  bearing  evident  traces  of  consumption.  I  mentioned 
the  fact  to  the  priest  who  was  with  me,  and  learned  that  doctors  attribute  the 
frequency  of  chest  diseases  to  the  fact  that  these  girls  work  in  over-heated 
rooms.  The  temperature  is  kept  very  high  in  woollen  factories,  and  no  visitor 
who  has  been  through  one  in  June  can  forget  it.  It  was  on  a  very  hot  day 
that  I  visited  Greenwood  Factory,  and  the  head  of  the  firm,  after  warning  me 
with  a  smile  that  I  should  be  baked,  handed  me  over  to  his  son,  saying,  "  Here 
is  a  gentleman  who  wants  to  be  boiled.  Take  him  through  the  works."  This 
is  no  doubt  the  reason  why  mill  girls  wear  a  woollen  shawl  over  their  head  and 
shoulders  when  they  come  from  work,  but  this  is  not  a  sufficient  protection 
against  the  sudden  transition  from  the  mill  to  the  outside  air,  especially  in 
winter,  when  there  is  often  a  cold,  thick,  penetrating  fog. 


CHAP.  II 


UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM 


323 


their  existence  the  slightest  industrial  vicissitudes  are  fraught 
with  the  gravest  consequences,  not  in  Bradford  only  but  in  all 
industrial  towns  similarly  situated.  They  form  a  large  and 
compact  mass,  which  in  the  event  of  a  crisis  cannot  weather 
the  storm,  and  which  even  in  times  of  general  prosperity  finds 
it  difficult  to  provide  for  its  own  individual  welfare. 

III.   The  Cotton  Industry. 

When  we  left  the  Yorkshire  silk  mills  to  examine  the 
position  of  the  workers  engaged  in  the  woollen  industry,  we 
remarked  how  our  horizon  was  widening,  and  the  same  thing 
occurs  when  we  pass  from  the  woollen  to  the  cotton  industry. 
Here  Great  Britian  preponderates  to  an  overwhelming  degree, 
and  possesses  as  many  spindles  as  the  other  countries  in  the 
world  put  together,1  while  India,  where  production  has  doubled 
in  nine  years,  may  from  this  point  of  view  be  regarded  as  an 
extension  of  Great  Britain. 

Instead  of  a  few  towns  like  Galashiels  or  Bradford,  we 
have  a  whole  district  given  up  to  cotton.  Lancashire,  with  its 
great  central  market  of  Manchester,  now  in  direct  communica- 
tion with  the  sea  since  the  opening  of  the  Ship  Canal,  with  great 
towns,  once  mere  villages,  like  Oldham,  Eochdale,  Blackburn, 
Bolton,  and  others,  and  with  a  population  so  densely  aggregated 
as  to  make  South  Lancashire  one  immense  manufacturing  centre, 
owes  it  prodigious  development  entirely  to  cotton. 

Nor  is  the  cotton  industry  confined  to  Lancashire.  Cotton 
mills  are  not  rare  in  Yorkshire;  a  little  town  in  Fife  is  entirely 
occupied  with  cotton  weaving ;  and  at  Glasgow  we  shall  visit 
a  spinning  mill  employing  5000  persons.  Notwithstanding 

1  I  give  some  interesting  figures  taken  from  Cotton  Fads,  by  Mr.  A.  B. 
Stephenson  of  New  York,  and  quoted  on  p.  82  of  the  Report  of  M.M.  Grand  - 
george  and  Tabourier,  to  which  frequent  reference  has  been  made. 

TABLE  of  the  number  of  SPINDLES  employed  in  Europe,  America,  and  India 
in  1884  and  1893. 


Year. 

Great  Britain. 

Continent  of  Europe. 

United  States. 

India. 

TotaL 

1893 

1884 

45,270,000 
42,750,000 

26,850,000 
22,650,000 

15.550,000 
13,300,000 

3,576,000 
1,790,000 

91,246,000 
80,490,000 

324  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

the  well-marked  tendency  of  industries  to  form  into  groups  of 
the  same  variety,  and  to  concentrate  production  on  a  given 
centre,  cotton  mills  may  be  found  almost  everywhere  through- 
out Great  Britain. 

The  cotton  industry,  like  the  woollen,  is  considerably 
developed  both  in  the  scale  of  production  and  in  the  elabora- 
tion of  its  methods.  It  has  triumphed  over  two  powerful 
rivals,  flax  and  hemp,  which,  though  used  for  finer  articles, 
have  been  replaced  by  cotton  for  ordinary  purposes. 

In  the  earlier  part  of  this  work  we  glanced  at  the  linen 
industry,  of  which  Belfast  is  the  most  important  centre,  and  we 
shall  not  go  back  to  it  again.  It  supplies  the  demand  for  an 
article  of  luxury,  and  is  therefore  not  organised  on  modern 
lines.  The  linen  workers  have  neither  the  same  anxieties 
and  difficulties  nor  the  same  means  of  solution  as  the  oper- 
atives engaged  in  the  cotton  trade,  who  are  at  the  opposite 
pole. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  inferred  that  all  cotton  mills  have 
reached  the  same  point  of  evolution,  nor  that  there  is  an 
unvarying  type  among  the  operatives. 

If  we  first  select  a  small  town,  remote  from  Manchester 
and  lost  amid  a  number  of  other  industries,  we  shall  find  a 
population  less  dominated  and  penetrated  by  cotton  than 
would  be  the  case  in  Lancashire.  If,  in  such  a  town,  we 
study  a  mill  where  cotton  is  not  spun  but  woven,  employed 
that  is  to  say  for  a  particular  purpose,  we  shall  have  the  best 
chance  of  finding  skilled  workmen,  if  any  remain. 

We  will  therefore  select  the  Scottish  town  of  Dunfermline, 
in  Fife,  and  observe  that  branch  of  the  cotton  industry  which 
is  least  advanced  along  the  lines  of  that  double  evolution, 
material  and  social,  technical  and  personal,  the  phases  of 
which  we  are  engaged  in  tracing.  The  study  of  these  phases 
will  lead  us  from  weaving  to  spinning,  and  from  the  isolated 
small  town  to  the  great  industrial  hive  of  Lancashire. 

Dunfermline  is  as  well  known  for  its  damask  table-linen 
as  Galashiels  for  its  tweed.  It  has  about  the  same  population 
of  20,000  persons,  and  there  are  many  other  points  of  re- 
semblance between  the  two  towns.  One  important  difference, 
however,  should  be  noted.  Dunfermline  is  surrounded  by 
collieries  on  all  sides,  for  Fife  is  very  rich  in  coal  and  employs 


CHAP,  ii  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  325 

a  large  number  of  colliers.  Colliers  who  work  in  pits  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Dunfermline  send  their  daughters  to  the 
mills  in  the  town,  and  a  great  many  live  in  Dunfermline 
and  go  to  the  pit  every  day.  The  two  industries  are  comple- 
mentary. 

The  Dunfermline  mills  employ  chiefly  women,  and  female 
labour  is  most  in  demand,  as  we  saw  in  Galashiels.  In 
Dunfermline,  however,  the  vicinity  of  collieries,  and  the  con- 
sequent demand  for  male  labour,  restores  the  balance. 

Let  us  now  select  a  particular  mill,  which  will  do  more 
than  any  generalities  to  give  us  a  clear  and  precise  idea  of  the 
position  of  men  and  matters. 

Mr.  Eobertson  employs  400  hands,  of  whom  300  are 
women.  The  men  are  warp-dressers  or  loom-tenders,  as  in 
most  cases  where  weaving  is  done.  The  loom-mounters  are 
also  men,  and  a  few  more  work  at  the  fabrication  of  looms. 
Mr.  Eobertson  has  had  looms  set  up  under  his  own  direction 
and  at  his  own  expense,  and  states  that  he  has  gained  both 
in  price  and  quality.  Women  superintend  the  working  of 
the  looms,  and  are  the  only  real  cotton  operatives.  The  men 
are  either  engaged  in  preliminary  work  or  in  supervision. 

Wages  approach  those  paid  in  Galashiels.  The  firm 
kindly  permitted  me  to  see  the  pay-books,  and  I  made  a  few 
notes  at  random.  As  an  example,  I  may  quote  the  wages  for 
five  fortnights  earned  by  a  work-girl  who  was  paid  by  the 
piece  fortnightly. 

1st   Fortnight  .  .  .  .  .     £l     7     6 

2nd         „  .  .  .  .  .174 

3rd  .  .  .  .  .185 

4th          „  .  .  .  .  .236 

5th  .  1    19     4 


Total  for  10  weeks  .£861 


This  gives  an  average  of  16s.  7T^jd.  a  week,  with  a 
minimum  of  13s.  8d.  and  a  maximum  of  £1 :  1  :  9  a  week. 

Two  other  books  gave  averages,  taken  for  three  fortnights, 
of  19 -5  6s.,  and  18  "4 8s.,  ranging  from  20 '08s.  to  17 '08s.  a 
week. 

The  warp-dressers  earn  about  31 '2s.  a  week,  according  to 
the  pay-books  which  I  examined,  and  loom-tenders  are  paid 


326  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

28s.  a  week  for  superintending  40  looms.  Female  labour  is 
consequently  paid  at  much  the  same  rate  as  in  Galashiels,  and 
male  labour  a  little  higher,  probably  because  of  the  neighbour- 
hood of  collieries. 

The  girls  serve  no  apprenticeship.  They  go  to  the  mill  at 
thirteen  or  so,  and  earn  3s.  6d.  a  week,  and  between  the  ages 
of  sixteen  and  twenty,  according  to  their  skill  and  industry, 
they  rise  to  the  wages  quoted.  Thus  their  probation  is  neither 
long  nor  difficult,  though  it  is  not  so  simple  as  in  spinning 
mills.  They  have  their  proper  pride,  however,  and  my  attention 
was  called  to  the  fact  that  they  are  skilled  labourers,  and  a 
superior  class,  and  "  not  a  low  class  of  girls  like  spinners."  I  am 
quite  willing  to  bear  testimony  to  their  good  behaviour  and 
respectability,  but  so  far  as  their  technical  skill  is  concerned, 
although  there  is  not  very  much  of  it,  it  can  but  bind  them 
more  closely  to  their  trade  and  their  native  town,  and  we 
already  know  that  such  indissoluble  alliances  between  a 
workman  who  has  got  to  live  and  an  industry  which  is 
subject  to  crises  are  fraught  with  terrible  danger. 

In  Dunfermline  this  attachment  to  the  trade  is  strengthened 
by  the  remoteness  of  the  other  seats  of  the  textile  industry, 
while  the  facility  with  which  a  man  can  find  work  in  the  pits 
has  an  appreciable  tendency  to  check  emigration  and  produce 
stagnation.  Two  loom -tenders  in  Mr.  Eobertson's  mill,  with 
whom  I  had  a  long  conversation,  told  me  that  they  had 
worked  there  for  twenty  years.  They  were  born  in  Dunferm- 
line, and  had  entered  Mr.  Eobertson's  mill  soon  after  finishing 
their  apprenticeship  in  another.  "  You  see,"  said  one  of  them, 
"  we  stick  to  our  trade  when  we  have  once  taken  to  it." 
"  Born  in  Dunfermline  and  likely  to  stay,"  was  the  reply  of  his 
comrade  to  my  inquiry  as  to  where  he  was  born. 

The  girls,  too,  find  employment  in  the  mills,  and  sometimes 
the  sons  as  well.  Each  of  the  two  men  just  mentioned  had 
a  son  with  him  as  an  apprentice,  and  one  had  one  daughter  and 
the  other  had  three  employed  at  the  looms.  This  is  another 
circumstance  which  makes  you  "  stick  "  to  a  trade,  but  at  the 
same  time  it  puts  you  at  its  mercy. 

Hitherto,  fortunately,  work  has  been  regular,  and  these  two 
loom-tenders  had  only  been  out  of  work  once,  when  the  looms 
stopped  for  three  or  four  months  about  ten  years  ago.  The 


CHAP,  ii  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  327 

nature  of  the  manufacture  permits  a  certain  accumulation  of 
stock,  for  fashion  does  not  change  so  rapidly  in  table-linen 
as  in  wearing  apparel,  and  as  Mr.  Eobertson  does  a  large  export 
trade,  he  produces  articles  in  ordinary  demand  beforehand,  in 
order  to  be  in  a  position  to  supply  his  customers  promptly. 
The  United  States  are  the  great  market  for  Dunfermline  goods, 
and  many  manufacturers  in  that  town  have  either  a  partner 
or  a  representative  in  New  York.  At  that  time  (1893)  the 
McKinley  tarriff  regulations  were  in  full  vigour,  but  I  was 
told  that  the  trade  of  Dunfermline  had  suffered  little  in  con- 
sequence, owing  to  the  character  of  the  goods  exported.  These 
are  fine  goods  and  damask  table-cloths,  which  are  not  much 
made  in  the  United  States,  and  had  been  leniently  treated  for 
this  reason.  Customers  who  required  articles  of  this  quality 
were  quite  willing  to  pay  the  increased  price  resulting  from 
the  custom-house  duties. 

Without  wishing  to  be  a  prophet  of  evil,  it  is  not  difficult 
to  see  in  the  prosperity  of  this  trade,  and  of  those  to  whom  it 
gives  employment,  the  germs  of  a  crisis  which  it  would  be 
difficult  to  surmount.  The  United  States  may  any  day  begin 
to  manufacture  fine  table-linen,  thus  not  only  closing  their 
markets  to  British  goods  but  possibly  also  becoming  successful 
rivals.  They  produce  and  spin  cotton,  and  these  are  ad- 
vantageous conditions  tending  to  compensate  American  manu- 
facturers for  the  higher  wages  which  they  would  be  obliged  to 
pay  in  consequence  of  American  economic  conditions.  The 
Dunfermline  operatives  would  then  be  taken  unawares.  They 
have  no  experience  of  such  vicissitudes,  and  trade  has  been  so 
steady  that  there  are  no  Trade  Unions  even  among  the  women, 
though  they  are  employed  in  great  numbers.  They  have  no 
organisation  or  reserve  fund  to  fall  back  upon  during  a  period 
of  unemployment,  and  though  there  are  Friendly  Societies  and 
a  prosperous  Co-operative  Society  in  Dunfermline,  yet  these  are 
only  for  promoting  the  better  use  of  the  means  of  existence 
derived  from  another  source.  There  are  no  preparations  for  a 
sudden  emergency,  and  the  working  class  have  hitherto  been 
content  to  rely  on  the  security  of  their  trade  and  the  wise 
administration  of  their  employers. 

But  for  this  grave  omission,  there  are  many  elements  of 
well  -  founded  and  lasting  prosperity.  Profound  religious 


328  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

convictions  are  found,  especially  among  the  educated  classes. 
A  lawyer,  whose  hospitality  I  enjoyed,  had  some  hesitation 
about  inviting  a  friend  of  his,  a  manufacturer,  to  dinner  on 
Sunday  evening,  and  when  doing  so  he  expressed  himself  with 
the  greatest  caution,  asking  first  whether  he  would  have  any 
religious  scruples.  At  church  time  the  streets  are  thronged 
with  groups  of  people  going  together  to  the  kirk,  either  to  the 
Established  Church,  the  Free  Church,  or  elsewhere.  Except 
for  this  purpose  it  is  not  considered  respectable  to  take  a 
stroll  on  Sunday.  My  host,  a  man  of  liberal  views,  as  well 
as  of  sincere  religious  convictions,  was  kind  enough  to  show 
me  the  way  to  the  Catholic  Church  before  going  to  the  Free 
Church  himself,  and  it  might  have  scandalised  the  rest  of  the 
congregation  had  they  known  that  on  his  way  to  the  kirk  he 
had  enabled  a  heretic  to  take  part  in  the  rites  of  a  Popish 
superstition.  The  intolerance  of  the  sixteenth  century  still 
prevails  in  Dunfermline,  and  the  inhabitants  keenly  enjoy 
theological  discussions,  which  are  conducted  with  a  narrow  and 
pitiless  logic.  I  arn  far  from  considering  this  as  a  proof  of  an 
enlightened  faith,  but  I  note  it  as  evidence  of  the  strength  of 
their  convictions. 

Other  favourable  signs  struck  me  in  my  visits  to  working- 
class  dwellings  with  Mr.  E .     Some  of  the  lodgings  are 

sufficiently  unattractive  in  appearance,  but  I  was  assured  that 
they  are  all  highly  respectable.  The  mill  girls  who  live  in 
them  are  generally  miners'  daughters,  whose  parents  live  too 
far  off  for  them  to  come  in  to  work  every  day,  and  they 
generally  spend  Saturday  afternoon  and  Sunday  at  home. 
Many  of  the  working-class  dwellings  are  new  and  prettily 
built.  I  visited  a  man  named  Wilson,  a  stoker  in  one  of  the 
mills,  who  has  just  built,  with  the  assistance  of  a  Building 
Society,  a  house  in  which  he  and  his  family  occupy  the 
ground  flat.  A  staircase  with  a  separate  entrance  leads  to  an 
upper  flat,  which  is  let  to  another  family,  though  it  seemed  to 
me  that  both  flats  would  not  have  been  too  much  for  the  nine 
children.  However,  there  is  the  cost  of  building  to  be  taken 
into  consideration.  The  house  is  built  of  a  good  stone,  and 
cost  £300,  £250  of  which  Wilson  borrowed  from  the  Building 
Society.  The  interest  on  the  loan  comes  to  £12  a  year,  and 
the  ground  annual  comes  to  21s.,  and  with  the  addition  of 


CHAP,  ii  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  329 

taxes  and  the  water  rate  Wilson  is  somewhat  heavily  burdened. 
The  upper  flat,  however,  is  let  for  £6,  which  cancels  half  his 
debt  to  the  Building  Society.  It  is  a  pretty  flat,  airy  and 
beautifully  kept,  and  furnished  with  taste  according  to  the 
English  standard,  by  which  I  mean  that  it  bears  witness  to 
that  love  of  home  which  suggests  a  hundred  inartistic  and  far 
from  decorative  contrivances  to  the  women  of  a  family.  A 
mantel  border  with  painted  flowers  appliqued  upon  the 
material  seemed  to  me  to  deserve  these  epithets,  but  criticism 
is  disarmed  by  'the  pretty  embroidered  muslin  curtains  of 
immaculate  freshness  in  the  window  of  the  tiny  parlour,  and 
by  the  scrupulous  cleanliness  of  every  corner.  A  widow  and 
three  daughters  are  the  occupants,  a  state  of  things  which  in 
many  places  would  mean  abject  poverty,  but  their  position 
is  not  a  bad  one  in  Dunfermline,  where  there  are  openings  for 
young  girls  in  the  mills. 

On  our  way  down  we  went  into  Wilson's  little  garden, 
where  to  my  surprise  I  found  a  little  greenhouse  in  which  he 
and  his  daughters  kept  a  few  plants.  On  the  other  side  of 
the  garden  wall  I  saw  a  neighbour's  garden,  which  had  just 
won  the  prize  of  £5,  offered  every  year  for  the  best  flower- 
garden  belonging  to  a  working  man,  by  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie, 
Dunfermline's  most  distinguished  son.  I  visited  several  other 
houses,  and  all  confirmed  my  favourable  impression  of  the 
level  to  which  working-class  families  have  risen  in  Dunfermline. 
Though  they  are  unprepared  for  possible  industrial  crises, 
most  of  them  are  at  any  rate  able  to  live  respectably,  and  are 
no  strangers  to  ambition.  The  efforts  this  involves  are,  if 
rightly  understood,  an  indirect  preparation  for  the  bitter 
struggle  which  would  be  their  lot  if  any  blow  were  struck 
at  the  prosperity  of  their  local  industry. 

We  must  now  leave  Dunfermline.  There  are  no  spinning 
mills  in  that  town,  and  it  is  to  a  spinning  mill  that  we 
must  go  to  observe  the  furthest  point  of  evolution  reached. 
The  one  we  shall  visit  presents  a  complete  type  of  despecial- 
isation  under  the  factory  system — 5000  hands,  4000  of  them 
women,  absence  of  apprenticeship,  large  capital,  engines  of 
12,000  horse -power,  a  world -wide  custom — here  we  have 
every  characteristic  of  the  modern  system  of  production.  This 
factory  is  the  Sewing  Thread  Factory  belonging  to  Messrs. 


330  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

J.  and  P.  Coats  and  Company,  at  Paisley,  a  short  distance 
from  Glasgow,  and  consequently  in  the  heart  of  a  region  of 
extraordinary  activity,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  a  great  port, 
and  in  close  proximity  to  a  great  city.  This  sum  of  con- 
ditions tends  to  make  the  evolution  of  working-class  families 
more  rapid  and  more  complete. 

There  is  nothing  requiring  special  description  in  the 
processes  employed.  Machinery  has  simplified  to  the  utmost 
the  work  of  the  persons  engaged  in  this  industry,  so  much  so 
that  in  this  immense  factory  I  did  not  find  a  single  individual 
who  could  properly  be  called  a  skilled  workman.  If  we  leave 
out  the  engineers  engaged  in  superintending  the  engines,  who 
really  take  no  part  in  the  operations  carried  on  in  the  factory, 
and  who  would  be  equally  good  engineers  in  a  foundry,  the 
rest  are  only  the  servants  of  the  machinery  or  foremen  engaged 
in  keeping  order  and  general  supervision. 

The  spinning  looms  are  entirely  in  the  hands  of  women. 
Girls  of  sixteen  or  eighteen,  with  a  little  practice,  are  quite 
capable  of  undertaking  such  a  simple  task.  From  time  to 
time  a  broken  thread  needs  to  be  joined  or  a  defective  layer 
of  cotton  wool  must  be  taken  away,  but  for  the  rest  of  the 
time  they  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  watch  the  spindles 
pursuing  their  incessant  toil. 

The  reeling,  labelling,  and  packing  are  also  done  by  women, 
who,  in  a  word,  follow  the  cotton  through  its  successive  trans- 
formations, from  the  time  the  bales  arrive  at  the  factory  to  its 
final  stage,  when  it  is  wound  on  a  wooden  reel  and  placed  in 
a  cardboard  box. 

Men  are  employed  only  in  subsidiary  tasks,  such  as  super- 
intendence, repairing  the  looms,  and  making  reels. 

The  last  operation,  which  is  carried  on  in  huge  workshops, 
is  a  very  simple  one,  and  requires  only  a  short  apprenticeship. 
The  wood  is  sawn  by  a  steam  saw  into  square  lengths  of 
uniform  thickness,  and  these  are  then  put  into  a  machine  and 
rounded.  Another  machine  cuts  them  into  little  cylinders 
of  the  proper  length  for  reels.  Nothing  then  remains  but  to 
pierce  the  hole  in  the  middle  and  to  hollow  out  a  place  for  the 
thread,  and  the  reel  is  finished.  Both  these  operations  are 
done  by  machinery.  It  is  also  by  the  aid  of  machinery  that 
the  workshop  is  kept  free  from  the  debris  which  would  other- 


CHAP,  ii  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  331 

wise  accumulate  very  rapidly.  A  broad  band,  so  arranged 
on  the  floor  as  to  form  an  endless  moving  carpet,  carries  the 
sawdust  and  shavings  to  the  end  of  the  workshop. 

As  I  have  said,  in  Messrs.  Coats's  factory,  both  among  the 
male  and  female  hands,  we  find  only  unskilled  labourers, 
individuals  whose  technical  skill  is  reduced  to  a  minimum. 
Therefore  if  the  reflections  upon  the  slavery  of  the  worker  under 
the  modern  industrial  system,  which  we  so  constantly  hear, 
were  well  founded,  and  if  it  were  true  that  machinery,  by 
depriving  him  of  his  professional  skill,  had  at  the  same  time 
deprived  him  of  his  dignity,  and  if  by  closing  the  little  work- 
shop in  which  he  had  a  chance  of  becoming  an  employer,  it 
had  at  the  same  time  ruined  his  independence,  it  is  among 
textile  workers  that  we  should  find  the  most  degraded  condi- 
tion and  the  least  efficient  organisation.  It  is  there  that 
energy  would  be  most  discouraged  and  confidence  most  dis- 
abused, and  that  we  ought  to  find,  not  merely  the  greatest 
suffering,  but  also  the  most  complete  inability  to  devise  any 
remedy. 

But  the  real  facts  of  the  case  are  quite  different.  Although 
some  regrettable  traits  are  to  be  found  among  the  textile 
workers  of  Glasgow,  arising  from  the  mixture  of  the  population 
already  noted  and  the  constant  immigration  of  the  incapable, 
yet  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  these  are  peculiar,  not  to  the 
industry,  but  to  the  environment,  and  that  they  are  found 
among  those  belonging  to  other  trades  in  Glasgow  Or  again, 
in  the  case  of  the  inferior  position  of  the  girls  engaged  in 
spinning  and  weaving  jute  in  Dundee,  it  must  be  taken  into 
account,  if  we  would  understand  the  phenomenon  aright,  that 
this  industry  has  been  established  very  recently,  and  that  the 
population  of  Dundee  was  ill  prepared  for  the  evolution  which 
the  introduction  of  the  jute  manufacture  necessitated.  When 
the  application  of  machine  power  to  production  revolutionised 
manufactures,  and  led  to  the  birth  of  a  new  order  of  things, 
there  was  a  general  bewilderment  and  shock,  and  a  general 
perturbation  before  equilibrium  was  restored.  Those  were  the 
days  of  Sybil  and  Mary  Barton,  when  general  alarm  was  felt 
at  the  spectacle  of  the  enormous  proletariate  of  workers,  born 
in  the  midst  of  social  convulsions  and  material  disturbances. 
These  were,  nevertheless,  the  precursors  of  a  new  order, 


332  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

and  the  truth  of  this  may  be  seen  to-day  in  the  district  where 
the  textile  industry  has  been  carried  to  its  highest  develop- 
ment and  supplies  a  livelihood  to  the  greatest  number  of 
persons,  that  is  to  say,  in  Lancashire. 

We  have  already  had  occasion  to  note  some  very  signifi- 
cant facts  bearing  on  the  social  condition  of  Lancashire. 
When  we  visited  the  great  works  of  Messrs.  Platt  of  Oldham, 
we  were  brought  into  contact  with  an  artisan  population 
possessing  a  very  remarkable  aptitude  for  raising  itself. 
Readers  will  remember  the  cotton  spinning  mills  of  75,000 
to  100,000  shuttles  managed  by  a  committee  of  working  men 
shareholders,  the  pleasant,  well-built,  well-kept  working-class 
dwellings,  and  the  flourishing  Building  Societies,  an  unmistak- 
able proof  of  the  initiative  and  capacity  of  the  labouring  classes 
and  a  powerful  means  of  helping  them  to  acquire  property. 
The  centres  of  the  cotton  industry  round  Manchester  offer 
a  similar  spectacle,  and  whether  our  observation  is  directed 
to  Eochdale,  Bolton,  Blackburn,  or  Oldham,  we  shall  only 
obtain  a  confirmation  of  what  has  already  been  remarked.  It 
would  be  tedious  to  describe  afresh  the  working-class  dwellings 
let  at  4s.  a  week,  the  families  where  every  adult  member  finds 
a  lucrative  occupation  within  his  reach,  the  steady  habits  and 
general  earnestness  of  the  operatives  as  a  body,  etc. 

I  cannot,  however,  omit  a  brief  reference  to  one  well- 
known  fact,  one  of  the  economic  glories  of  Lancashire,  which 
illustrates  the  energy,  sagacity,  and  organising  power  of  Lanca- 
shire men.  At  Rochdale,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Rochdale 
Pioneers,  the  first  of  those  Co-operative  Societies  was  founded 
which,  for  the  last  forty  years,  have  played  so  important  a  part 
in  the  material  well-being  of  the  working  classes. 

Nor  is  this  an  isolated  phenomenon,  such  as  might  be 
ascribed  to  a  lucky  accident  or  a  fortuitous  combination  of 
favourable  circumstances.  I  was  assured  that  the  Saturday 
half-holiday,  now  universally  adopted,  had  been  customary  in 
Manchester  for  the  last  fifty  years,  while  it  was  quite  unknown 
anywhere  else  in  the  country.  There,  too,  the  movement  for 
the  reduction  of  the  hours  of  labour  has  found  its  strongest 
support  and  its  clearest  justification,  owing  to  the  fact  that 
there,  speaking  generally,  the  working  class  was  best  fitted  to 
use  its  leisure  in  a  rational  and  intelligent  manner. 


CHAP,  ii  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  333 

Many  characteristics  of  English  life  and  character  are 
carried  to  an  extreme  in  Lancashire — activity,  love  of  responsi- 
bility, the  spirit  of  enterprise,  decision,  and  rectitude.  A  large 
Manchester  merchant  who  was  advising  me  as  to  my  inquiry, 
gave  me  the  following  piece  of  advice :  "  Go  straight  to  the 
point,  ask  right  off  for  the  precise  piece  of  information  you 
require,  and  you  will  find  people  willing  to  help  you  as  well 
and  promptly  as  they  can.  If  they  think  it  better  not  to 
answer  they  will  tell  you  so,  but  they  are  practical  business 
people  and  will  never  beat  about  the  bush  if  you  put  a  precise 
question  to  them."  I  found  the  same  thing  in  the  United 
States. 

Another  remarkable  sign  of  vigour  is  that  the  Manchester 
School  gave  its  name  to  the  movement  in  favour  of  free  trade. 
It  is  not  difficult  for  anybody  who  has  seen  these  energetic 
merchants,  and  the  operatives  who  transform  the  cotton  grown 
on  the  plains  of  Louisiana  or  India  into  goods  which  are 
sent  to  all  parts  of  the  world,  to  understand  that  it  is  to  their 
interest  to  throw  down  the  barriers  reared  by  protection,  and 
to  open  wide  the  vast  arena  of  international  competition. 
With  full  confidence  in  themselves,  they  do  not  fear  to  measure 
themselves  against  other  manufacturing  countries ;  there  is 
nothing  that  they  desire  so  much,  knowing  that  they  will  be 
victorious  in  the  struggle.  Daudet  has  a  scene  in  one  of 
his  stories  in  which  a  sturdy  monk,  attacked  by  a  bandit, 
turns  up  his  sleeves  and  offers  this  simple  prayer,  "0  Lord, 
all  I  ask  is  that  Thou  wilt  remain  neutral,  and  I  will  manage 
the  rest."  This  monk  might  stand  for  England,  and  above 
all  for  Lancashire,  which  first  claimed  the  honour  of  engaging 
on  equal  terms  in  the  lists  of  commerce  with  the  whole  world 
as  rivals,  rejecting  protective  measures  as  superfluous,  confident 
of  its  own  strength  and  afraid  of  no  one. 

The  ardour  of  the  Lancashire  free  traders  of  to-day  is 
worthy  of  the  compatriots  of  John  Bright,  the  Eochdale  cotton- 
spinner.  No  one  who  knows  how  averse  the  English  mind  is 
to  academic  theories,  and  how  existing  opinions  are  constantly 
examined  and  modified  in  the  light  of  fresh  facts,  can  doubt 
for  a  moment  that  the  free -trade  policy  is  not  the  result  of 
any  infatuation,  but  that  it  is  due  to  considerations  of  prac- 
tical convenience.  After  due  experience,  Manchester  has  found 


334  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  HI 

that  the  best  safeguard  for  her  prosperity  and  the  best  secu- 
rity for  the  progress  of  her  manufactures  are  to  be  found  in 
the  opening  of  markets.  How  keen  are  the  convictions  of 
Manchester  men  on  this  point  may  be  judged  by  listening 
to  the  leading  merchants  and  members  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce.  The  slightest  and  most  guarded  expression  of 
doubt  as  to  the  complete  efficacy  of  an  absolute  system  of  free 
trade  with  the  United  States,  let  us  say,  is  resented  as  almost 
a  personal  matter,  and  calls  down  a  storm  of  arguments 
intended  to  confound  the  unfortunate  author,  who  feels,  from 
the  wealth  of  argument,  that  these  are  weapons  carefully  chosen 
from  an  arsenal  at  the  service  of  every  Manchester  merchant. 
"Don't  you  see,"  said  one  man  to  me,  "that  when  a  country 
puts  a  protective  duty  on  one  of  its  products  it  is  the  same 
thing  as  advertising  that  it  can  no  longer  produce  it  itself?" 
Such  arguments  follow  each  other  in  rapid  succession,  and 
with  an  energy  which  proves  how  much  the  speaker  has  the 
matter  at  heart. 

A  very  suggestive  advertisement  caught  my  eye  one  day 
in  one  of  the  streets  of  Manchester.  It  represented  a  Hindoo 
dressed  in  white  garments,  with  a  brightly -coloured  girdle, 
sitting  in  front  of  a  sewing-machine  and  trying  to  work  it. 
His  bare  feet  were  pressed  upon  the  pedals,  and  seemed  to  be 
moving  in  a  way  which  showed  that  the  wondering  Oriental 
was  learning  the  secret  of  the  contrivance,  and  was  on  his 
way  to  become  a  fresh  client  of  the  celebrated  firm  of  —  — . 
Such  is  British  commercial  enterprise !  First  our  merchants 
sell  cotton  goods  to  the  Hindoos  and  then  sewing-machines 
for  making  them  up,  and  their  aim  is  to  sell  sewing-machines 
and  cotton  goods  to  every  race  on  the  face  of  the  globe. 
In  this  Lancashire  has  succeeded  even  better  than  the  rest  of 
England. 

But  the  great  industrial  and  commercial  activity  of  Lan- 
cashire does  not  necessarily  prove  that  the  operatives  who 
are  i£s  instruments  possess  qualities  analogous  to  those 
required  by  the  manufacturers  and  merchants  who  direct  it. 
To  judge  the  operatives  we  must  see  them  when  they  are 
thrown  upon  their  own  resources,  and  more  particularly  in 
a  crisis. 

The  famous   textile  strike,  which   lasted  from  November 


CHAP,  ii  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  335 

1892  to  March  1893,  showed  very  clearly  both  their  power 
and  their  good  sense,  and  will  enable  us  to  appreciate  the 
social  status  of  these  factory  workers,  who  have  reached  the 
most  advanced  point  in  the  modern  evolution  of  industry. 

The  causes  of  the  strike  are  well  known.  Towards  the 
end  of  1892  the  cotton  market  was  greatly  burdened.  There 
was  a  real  crisis  of  over-production,  and  prices  were  constantly 
falling.  The  American  cotton  crop  of  1890  and  1891  had 
been  enormous,  exceeding  the  average  of  the  three  preceding 
years  by  about  2,000,000  bales,  or  more  than  880,000,000 
Ibs.,  and  this  excess  in  the  American  crop,  which  chiefly  feeds 
the  cotton  industry  throughout  the  world,1  was  depressing 
prices.  In  1891  profits  had  already  diminished  considerably,2 
and  in  1892  the  situation  was  so  gloomy  that  the  syndi- 
cate of  employers  came  to  the  decision  that  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  keep  the  mills  open  without  reducing  wages  5  per 
cent. 

The  next  thing  was  to  obtain  the  consent  of  the  operatives 
to  this  reduction.  Like  the  employers  they  had  their  syndi- 
cate, powerful,  rich,  well  organised,  and  composed  of  intelligent 
and  energetic  men,  who  were  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the 
interests  of  those  they  represented  and  well  able  to  defend 
them. 

The  proposals  of  the  syndicate  of  employers  were  sub- 
mitted to  the  syndicate  of  operatives  and  were  not  accepted. 
The  representatives  of  the  workers  did  not  attempt  to  deny 
the  gravity  of  the  situation  or  of  the  difficulties  with  which 
the  employers  had  to  cope,  but  they  had  a  different  remedy 

1  See  the  Report,  already  quoted,  by  Messrs.  Grandgeorge  and  Tabourier,  for 
the  figures  giving  the  quantity  of  cotton  furnished  for  manufacturing  purposes 
by  the  different  producing  countries.     During  the  years  1890  to  1893  the  annual 
average  of  the  cotton  crop  throughout  the  world  rose  to  more  than  5,500,000,000 
Ibs.     Of  this  the  United  States  furnished  about  3,800,000,000  Ibs.,  India  more 
than  1,130,000,000  Ibs.,  Egypt  more  than  400,000,000.     The  remainder  came 
from  Brazil,  Peru,  Central  Asia,  and  the  region  of  the  Caucasus  (pp.  80-85). 

2  While    90   limited    liability    cotton    spinning    companies   in    Lancashire 
realised  profits   of  £376,041    in    1890,    93   companies   in    1891    only  made   a 
profit  of  £10,763.     The  capital  of  these  93  companies  was  £3,622,031,  and 
the  dividend  was  6s.  per  cent     In  1890  it  was  £10 : 18s.,  in  1889  £6  : 12 :  6, 
and  in  1888  £7:8:3.     Things  were  better  in  the  majority  of  English  cotton 
mills  than  in  the  limited  liability  mills,  but  a  comparison  of  the  figures  given 
will  give  some  idea  of  the  state  of  the  cotton  industry  in  England  in  1891. 
(Report  just  quoted,  pp.  58,  59. ) 


336  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

to  propose.  What  they  said  was  substantially  this,  "  You  are 
suffering  from  over-production,  and  should  therefore  attack  the 
root  of  the  evil  and  produce  less.  Close  the  mills  for  one  or 
two  days  a  week  for  the  next  few  months.  This  will  mean  a 
heavy  loss  for  us,  since  we  shall  work  a  shorter  time  and 
consequently  receive  less  wages,  but  at  least  we  shall  feel  that 
our  sacrifices  are  not  thrown  away.  Further,  we  see  a  danger 
in  accepting  a  reduction  of  wages,  which  it  would  be  difficult 
to  reverse  at  a  later  period,  and  which  might  lead  to  further 
reductions."  "  If  we  had  accepted  the  employers'  terms,"  said 
Mr.  Maudsley,  secretary  of  the  Cotton  Spinners'  Federation, 
"  over-production  would  have  continued  and  prices  would  have 
gone  on  falling.  Then  there  would  have  been  a  fresh  reduc- 
tion, and  so  on  till  the  minimum  subsistence  wage  was  reached." 

The  employers'  reply  was  to  the  effect  that  if  they  con- 
tinued to  pay  the  same  rate  of  wages  the  net  price  of  production 
would  be  so  high  as  to  prevent  their  getting  rid  of  their  goods 
in  the  existing  condition  of  the  market,  and  that  unless  the 
net  cost  of  production  could  be  reduced  all  other  means  would 
be  useless. 

The  discussion  was  continued  on  both  sides  without  any 
rancour  or  bitterness,  as  it  might  have  been  at  a  conference  of 
economists,  but  instead  of  being  entirely  theoretical  it  had  an 
immediate  practical  bearing.  Two  remedies  were  proposed, 
one  by  the  masters  and  one  by  the  men,  and  unless  they 
could  agree  upon  some  arrangement  the  only  possible  issue 
was  a  strike. 

This  actually  took  place  on  4th  November,  notwithstanding 
the  efforts  made  by  the  Mayors  of  Liverpool  and  Manchester 
to  get  the  matter  referred  to  arbitration.1  60,000  persons 
found  themselves  thrown  out  of  work,  and  about  13,000,000 
spindles  stopped.  This,  however,  was  only  the  beginning,  and 
by  February  as  many  as  100,000,  and  later  as  many  as 
125,000,  persons  were  on  strike. 

1  "If  only  profits  and  losses  are  taken  into  consideration,"  wrote  Mr. 
Maudsley,  "  the  manufacturers  are  right  in  demanding  a  reduction  of  wages,  as 
they  have  done."  He  went  on  to  admit  frankly  that  the  operatives  had  refused 
to  accept  arbitration  because  the  arbitrators  would  have  considered  only  the 
question  of  profits  and  losses,  and  thus  it  was  a  foregone  conclusion  that  the 
employers  would  win.  (Extracted  from  an  article  by  Mr.  Maudsley  published  in 
Justice,  a  Socialist  organ,  and  quoted  by  Le  Temps,  5th  Dec.  1892.) 


CHAP,  ii  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  337 

But  were  they  really  on  strike  ?  I  should  hesitate  myself 
to  use  the  term,  which  generally  implies  that  the  operatives 
were  the  first  to  take  steps  likely  to  lead  to  a  suspension  of 
work,  and  that  they  felt  a  certain  amount  of  animosity 
towards  their  employers.  Here,  on  the  contrary,  the  strike 
was  rather  due  to  the  action  of  the  employers,  and  throughout 
the  strike  the  best  relations  were  maintained  between  the 
representatives  of  the  two  parties. 

The  day  after  the  strike  was  declared  the  secretary  of  the 
employers'  federation  notified  that  he  was  always  ready  to 
receive  any  communication  which  the  men  might  have  to 
make.  A  long  period,  however,  elapsed  before  an  agree- 
ment was  arrived  at.  The  market  was  so  encumbered  that 
even  the  suspension  of  production  brought  about  no  immediate 
result.  The  stocks  of  cotton  were  exhausted  but  slowly,  and 
prices  went  up  only  very  slightly.  When  work  was  resumed 
at  the  end  of  twenty  weeks  it  was  found  that,  owing  to  the 
enormous  stock  over  from  1892,  the  Manchester  market  alone 
had  been  able  to  meet  the  demand,  notwithstanding  the 
strike.1  This  explains  the  failure  of  the  numerous  conferences 
which  were  held  at  various  times  during  these  twenty  weeks 
between  the  representatives  of  the  employers  and  of  the 
operatives.  The  market  was  still  overstocked,  and  the  suspen- 
sion of  work  had  not  yet  restored  the  balance,  nor  were 
the  masters  in  a  position  to  resume  work  at  the  old  rate  of 
wages. 

At  last,  in  March  1893,  the  situation  began  to  improve, 
and  the  men  having  consented  to  a  slight  reduction  of  wages,  an 
understanding  was  arrived  at,  and  this  strike,  which  had  been 
conducted  with  admirable  moderation  on  both  sides,  was  ended 
by  a  treaty  of  peace  which  was  a  real  charter  of  organisation. 
It  not  only  settled  the  question  at  issue,  but  it  also  established 
permanent  boards  composed  of  representatives  of  both  parties. 
Thus  the  operatives'  associations  took  rank  as  a  constitutional 
element  in  the  textile  industry,  and  were  recognised  as  a  part 
of  the  managing  body.  Henceforward,  they  will,  to  a  certain 
extent,  have  a  voice  in  the  solution  of  the  complex  questions 
relating  to  the  general  state  of  the  cotton  industry. 

The  principal  clauses  of  this  agreement  were  that  work 

1  Report  of  Messrs.  Grandgeorge  and  Tabourier,  p.  86. 
Z 


338  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

should  be  resumed  at  once  at  a  reduction  of  7d.  in  the  £1,  or 
rather  less  than  3  per  cent.  To  avoid  future  disputes,  and  to 
facilitate  as  far  as  possible  peaceful  solutions,  the  following 
arrangements  were  made: — 

1.  The  next  increase  of  wages  to  be  equal  to  the  present 
reduction  or  to  any  other  thereafter  judged  necessary. 

2.  No  alteration  in  wages  to  be  made  before  the  expira- 
tion of  a  year,  after  which  the  only  change  to  be  an  increase 
or  reduction  of  5  per  cent.    A  month's  notice  of  such  proposed 
change  to  be  given  on  either  side. 

3.  Any  strike  or  lock-out  to  be  preceded  by  an  attempt  at 
conciliation. 

4.  Any  question   affecting  the    general   interests   of    the 
cotton   industry  to  be  considered   by  a  joint  committee   of 
employers  and  men. 

The  last  clause  marks  the  assumption  of  an  entirely  new 
role  by  organisations  of  labour.  It  admits  the  operatives  to  a 
share  in  the  government  of  the  industry,  and  thus,  when  the 
furthest  stage  of  contemporary  evolution  is  reached,  we  find 
the  workers  beginning  to  recover  something  of  the  control 
which  they  would  seem  to  have  lost  for  ever  with  the  advent 
of  the  factory. 

Such  results  are  not  trifling,  and  in  an  industry  where  the 
operatives  are  capable  of  obtaining  them  the  Labour  Question 
will  be  less  vexed  in  the  future  than  in  the  past.  I  am 
glad  at  the  conclusion  of  my  inquiry  to  render  homage  to  the 
precursors  of  a  pacific  and  normal  organisation  of  labour,  in  the 
persons  of  these  Lancashire  cotton  spinners  and  weavers, 
admirable  types  of  complete  despecialisation  and  of  the  modern 
industrial  system. 

It  is  well  to  contrast  this  powerful  industry  with  the  ruined 
or  failing  trades  with  which  we  began,  and  to  compare  the 
aristocracy  of  labour  engaged  in  the  first  with  the  incapable  or 
mediocre  workmen  who  are  vegetating  in  the  second.  No- 
where, hitherto,  have  we  seen  interests  of  such  magnitude 
handled  by  mere  workmen  with  so  much  success,  firmness,  and 
foresight.  Other  labour  organisations  have  exhibited  strict 
discipline  and  prudent  administration,  but  none  have  been 
animated  by  such  enlightened  foresight,  while  many  have 
endeavoured  to  thwart  the  evolution  of  industry  and  to 


CHAP,  ii  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  339 

neutralise  its  effect.  Here,  on  the  contrary,  organisation  takes 
the  new  conditions  into  account,  and  seems,  notwithstanding 
initial  difficulties,  to  be  on  the  way  to  discover  a  solution. 

Is  it  necessary  to  repeat  that  this  discovery  is  due,  not 
merely  to  the  fact  that  artificial  means  of  resistance  have  been 
rendered  useless  by  the  important  transformations  which  the 
cotton  industry  has  undergone,  but  also  to  the  personality 
of  the  Lancashire  people  ?  It  is  not  an  accident  that  the 
most  interesting  type  of  evolution  is  found  where  the 
industry  is  most  modern  in  its  general  constitution,  and  where 
the  operatives  as  a  body  are  most  capable  of  intelligent 
initiative,  that  is  to  say,  where  the  evolution  of  industry  and 
the  personal  evolution  of  the  workers  have  both  been  carried 
as  far  as  possible. 


CHAPTEE    III 

THE   INDUSTRIES    OF    TRANSPORT 

TJie  Workman  wholly  independent  of  any  Special  Kind 
of  Manufacture. 

THE  principal  agent  of  modern  commercial  evolution  is  un- 
doubtedly the  extraordinary  development  of  transport.  But 
for  the  openings  presented  by  the  wider  facilities  of  communica- 
tion, the  application  of  machinery  to  manufactures  would  not 
have  led  to  the  results  we  see,  and  the  power  to  produce  on  a 
vast  scale  would  have  been  of  no  avail  without  the  power  to 
sell  on  the  same  scale. 

Transport  therefore  plays  a  considerable  part  in  the  general 
organisation  of  labour,  owing  to  its  influence  on  economic 
conditions.  Considered  apart,  it  also  forms  an  important 
branch  of  industry.  Railway  traffic  and  draught,  warehouses 
and  docks,  employ  a  very  large  number  of  persons,  and  the 
Labour  Question  occasionally  makes  itself  felt  in  a  very 
acute  form. 

All  the  industries  of  transport  have  one  feature  in  common, 
which  distinguishes  them  very  clearly  from  the  manufacturing  in- 
dustries. They  are  not  concerned  with  one  particular  material; 
they  transport  anything,  agricultural  produce  or  manufactured 
goods,  coal  or  precious  metals,  passengers  or  luggage.  Thus 
they  are  essentially  despecialised,  and  not  bound  up  with  any 
special  branch  of  industry.  They  depend  on  the  exchange  of 
the  products  of  all  possible  branches  of  industry,  and  are  the 
instrument  of  trade.  They  thrive  in  any  country  which  is 
rich,  active,  and  productive,  but  without  being  injured  by  the 
ruin  of  any  branch  of  agriculture  or  trade  so  long  as  it  is 


CHAP,  in  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  341 

brought  about  by  the  triumph  of  another.  The  only  thing 
which  would  be  fatal  would  be  if  a  country  engaged  in  a 
particular  kind  of  cultivation  or  production  were  so  seriously 
disturbed  that  its  general  wealth  was  affected  to  a  considerable 
extent.  Then  trade  and  transport  would  forsake  a  country 
which  was  no  longer  able  to  support  them,  and  which  had  no 
longer  produce  to  export,  or  capital  with  which  to  import  goods. 
The  industries  of  transport  are  at  the  disposal  of  any  one  who 
has  anything  to  transport,  and  as  exchange  fluctuates  they 
develop  or  diminish. 

Owing  to  their  essentially  mobile  character,  these  industries 
escape  in  great  measure  the  crises  which  affect  a  particular 
country,  for  they  are  as  little  dependent  on  the  prosperity  of  a 
given  country  as  on  the  prosperity  of  a  given  branch  of  labour. 
This  is  especially  true  of  transport  by  sea,  for  a  ship  which 
trades  between  Liverpool  and  New  York  can  quite  as  readily 
trade  with  India,  China,  or  Africa. 

An  interesting  study  might  be  made  of  the  mercantile 
navy,  to  which  England  owes  her  supremacy  by  sea,  and  which 
is  at  once  the  instrument  of  her  foreign  trade  and  a  witness  in 
every  part  of  the  globe  to  her  power  and  wealth.  Unfortun- 
ately such  considerations  are  beyond  the  scope  of  the  present 
work,  and  in  this  review  of  the  Labour  Question  in  the 
manufacturing  and  mining  industries  I  must  confine  myself  to 
pointing  out  that  it  is  also  present  in  the  industries  of 
transport. 

The  question  of  the  mercantile  navy  of  England  would 
therefore  carry  us  too  far,  for  the  question  is  bound  up  with 
the  foreign  trade  of  England,  a  complex  and  important  subject 
which  would  require  a  work  to  itself. 

Sailors,  moreover,  are  in  some  respects  highly  specialised,  and 
although  they  pass  readily  from  one  country  to  another,  and 
from  one  kind  of  cargo  to  another,  they  are  practically  unaffected 
in  their  quality  of  seamen.  It  is  true  that  they  have  become 
more  despecialised  since  the  introduction  of  steam,  which  has 
introduced  a  new  element  in  the  shape  of  engineers  and  stokers. 
The  role  of  the  latter,  however,  though  important,  is  subsidiary, 
and  the  sailor  remains  the  distinctive  individual,  whom  we 
easily  recognise  by  his  gait,  his  habits,  and  his  strong  attach- 
ment to  his  profession. 


342  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

The  sailor,  therefore,  whose  occupation  is  of  a  highly 
specialised  kind,  would  distract  our  attention  from  the  actual 
industries  of  transport  which,  owing  to  the  essentially  variable 
nature  of  their  material,  are  necessarily  despecialised,  and 
would  break  the  sequence  of  the  types  studied,  inasmuch  as  he 
is  less  despecialised  than  the  textile  operative.  If  we  wish  to 
keep  the  sequence  which  we  have  begun,  we  must  select  the 
most  despecialised  of  the  persons  engaged  in  the  industries  of 
transport. 

Railway  employe's  would  do  admirably  but  for  the  fact 
that  they  are  protected  against  crises  by  holding  yearly  engage- 
ments. They  are  not,  strictly  speaking,  men  who  can  be  taken 
on  or  dismissed  as  occasion  requires,  but,  in  a  sense,  officials. 
We  must  therefore  leave  them  out  of  the  question. 

Dockers,  on  the  other  hand,  satisfy  both  conditions.  They 
are  almost  or  completely  despecialised,  and  their  employment 
is  very  precarious.  They  are  not  dependent  either  on  special 
skill  of  their  own  or  on  an  employer.  The  Labour  Question 
therefore,  so  far  as  it  concerns  them,  presents  itself  under  quite 
modern  conditions,  similar  to  those  towards  which  the  general 
organisation  of  labour  is  tending.  Thus  they  are  proper 
subjects  of  inquiry  at  the  close  of  our  examination  of  the 
Labour  Question. 


I.   The  Organisation  of  Labour  in  the  Docks. 

It  is  difficult  for  any  one  who  has  not  beheld  it  to  conceive 
of  the  importance  and  activity  of  a  great  English  port.  No- 
where is  this  so  strongly  felt  as  in  Liverpool,  where  the  docks 
extend  along  the  Mersey  for  nearly  five  miles.  An  overhead 
railway  runs  the  whole  way,  at  about  the  level  of  a  second 
storey,  and  the  scene  which  the  traveller  beholds  is  truly 
astonishing.  Enormous  accumulations  of  bales  of  cotton,  vast 
buildings  filled  with  grain,  huge  stacks  of  timber  and  coal,  and 
an  endless  line  of  warehouses  along  the  quays  filled  with  pro- 
duce from  the  ends  of  the  earth.  The  background  consists  of 
masts  and  funnels,  and  their  bulk,  exaggerated  by  comparison 
with  the  neighbouring  buildings,  appears  even  more  imposing 
than  in  the  vast  estuary  which  puts  them  into  communication 


CHAP,  in  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  343 

with  the  sea.  A  similar  scene  may  be  witnessed  on  the 
Clyde  at  Glasgow,  but  the  Thames,  notwithstanding  the 
amount  of  traffic,  gives  but  a  feeble  idea  of  the  number  of 
vessels  which  enter  its  docks.  Instead  of  a  continuous  line, 
the  docks  form  great  indentations  off  the  river-bank,  and  are 
divided  into  distinct  and  separate  groups — Saint  Katherine's 
Docks,  East  India  Docks,  Eoyal  Albert,  Eoyal  Victoria  Docks, 
etc.  It  is  hardly  possible,  consequently,  to  get  a  single  view 
of  the  whole. 

It  is  in  London,  nevertheless,  that  docks  and  dockers  afford 
the  most  interesting  study.  In  the  first  place,  the  infinite 
variety  of  the  foreign  trade  is  more  conspicuous  in  London 
than  in  Liverpool,  which  is  chiefly  concerned  with  cotton.  In 
London  we  feel  that  we  are  in  the  largest,  most  active, 
and  most  complete  commercial  centre  in  the  world.  Every- 
thing that  can  be  bought  or  sold  finds  a  market  in  London, 
and  the  docks  are  a  concrete  sign  of  the  business  done  in  the 
city. 

In  the  second  place,  the  personnel  of  the  docks  is  more 
variable  in  London  than  anywhere  else.  Although  a  Dockers' 
Union  has  been  formed,1  and  London  furnishes  a  large  number 
of  members,  their  occupation  is  hardly  in  any  sense  an  occupa- 
tion apart.  Neither  in  Liverpool,  Glasgow,  Hull,  nor  obviously 
in  ports  of  less  importance,  can  we  find  dockers  who  are,  as  a 
body,  so  little  of  professionals.2  And,  finally,  it  is  the  London 
dockers  who  occupy  the  largest  share  of  public  attention. 

There  are  well  -  marked   differences   among   the    dockers. 

1  The  present  Dockers'  Union  is  the  outcome  of  the  great  strike  of  1889,  but 
some  organisation  existed  previously,  owing  to  the  persevering  efforts  of  Mr.  Ben 
Tillett  (Trade  Unimism  New  and  Old,  by  G.  Howell,  M.P.,  chap.  vii.  §  8). 

2  We  might  be  tempted  to  believe  the  contrary  on  reading  the  resolution 
passed  in  August  1890  : — "That,  recognising  that  our  Metropolitan  membership 
is  quite  equal  to  the  labour  requirements  of  London,  resolved  that  instructions 
be  sent  to  each  branch  secretary  in  the  Metropolitan  area  that  no  candidates 
for  membership  be  accepted  after  13th  August  1890,  except  by  special  sanction  of 
the  district  committee,  and  each  district  committee  to  be  informed  that  no  men 
known  to  be  physically  weak  or  otherwise  incompetent  are  to  be  accepted  under 
any  consideration.     Special  arrangements  are  to  be  made  for  the  enrolling  of 
those  engaged  in  special  industries,  such  as  brewers'  men,  sawyers,  etc.,  etc." 

This  attempt  at  monopoly  has  been  a  complete  failure,  and  has  only  proved 
the  strength  of  the  obstacles  attacked.  It  is  impossible  to  raise  barricades 
around  the  dockers'  trade  in  London,  and  the  dockers  are  drawn  from  every 
source  (Trade  Unionism  New  and  Old,  chap.  vii.  §  8). 


344  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  m 

The  stevedores  come  first,  and  constitute  the  aristocracy  of  the 
dockers.  They  require  technical  knowledge,  and  serve  a  sort 
of  apprenticeship.  It  is  an  art  to  load  a  vessel,  and  the  first 
chance  person  cannot  do  stevedore's  work.  If  casks  of  wine, 
for  instance,  are  put  on  board  without  proper  precautions  the 
probability  is  that  half  of  them  will  be  empty  on  reaching  port. 
The  stevedore,  who  is  accustomed  to  the  work,  will  stow  the 
barrels  so  that  they  suffer  no  damage. 

The  stevedores,  who  have  this  skill  at  their  backs,  have 
formed  powerful  Unions.  The  stevedores  whom  I  saw  at 
work  at  the  Eoyal  Albert  Docks  are  engaged  by  the  day, 
which  consists  of  nine  hours,  and  earn  6s.  a  day.  Over- 
time is  paid  at  Is.  an  hour,  and  they  receive  an  extra 
shilling  a  day  for  loading  vessels  with  a  certain  quantity 
of  dirty  cargo.  They  are  consequently  well  paid,  but  they 
are  not  insured  against  unemployment.  Their  Union,  however, 
organises  a  sort  of  fund,  and  their  wages  are  high  enough  to 
enable  them  to  face  a  certain  amount  of  unemployment  if  it 
does  not  occur  too  often.  All  would  be  well  if  they  were  not 
the  victims,  in  times  of  crisis,  of  the  skill  which  is  a  pro- 
tection to  them  in  ordinary  times.  When  the  docks  are  not 
busy,  or  when  new  methods  of  loading  cargo  dispense  with 
their  experience  and  knowledge,  they  find  themselves  without 
employment.  Like  all  other  skilled  workers  they  are  too 
dependent  on  their  skill,  and  when  unfavourable  circumstances 
beyond  their  own  control  present  themselves,  they  are  unfitted 
to  struggle  against  them. 

The  position  of  the  stevedores  would  be  quite  independent 
of  that  of  the  dockers  but  for  the  connection  between  their  work. 
We  shall  see  that  the  stevedores  played  an  important  part  in 
the  recent  conflicts  in  London  and  Hull. 

The  dockers  are  the  men  engaged  in  discharging  cargo. 
They  are  really  porters,  and  there  is  nothing  in  their  work 
which  requires  either  technical  knowledge  or  technical  educa- 
tion. A  few,  however,  retain  one  sort  of  skill.  These  are  the 
men  engaged  in  carrying  heavy  loads.  Their  physical  strength, 
their  endurance,  their  skill  in  balancing  their  load,  mark  them 
off  from  the  rest.  At  Milwall  Docks,  where  timber  and 
grain  are  the  principal  cargoes  discharged,  great  strong  fellows 
may  be  seen  moving  enormous  masses,  and  carrying  sacks 


CHAP,  in  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  345 

weighing  as  much  as  2^  cwt.  Such  men  cannot  be  replaced 
by  the  first  man  who  wants  work.  Such  a  one  would  sink 
beneath  his  load,  for  his  shoulders  have  not  the  callosities  which 
would  enable  him  to  cany  great  logs  without  discomfort,  and 
his  back  would  refuse  to  bear  the  heavy  sacks  of  grain.  Conse- 
quently the  men  employed  at  Milwall  Docks  do  not  come  into 
the  ordinary  category,  and  may  be  left  out  of  the  question. 

At  the  Royal  Albert  Docks  we  shall  see  an  excellent 
sample  of  the  ordinary  work  of  dockers.  I  was  piloted  through 

the  labyrinth  of  quays  and  warehouses  by  Captain  S ,  and 

enabled  to  watch  the  process  of  discharging  cargo.  I  was 
astonished  at  the  different  varieties  of  merchandise,  but  in 
no  case  was  special  ability  or  exceptional  muscular  strength 
required.  There  were  potatoes  and  bananas  from  the  Canary 
Islands,  potatoes  dug  in  Australia  six  weeks  before,  bales  of 
wool  and  cotton,  bamboo  from  China,  sacks  of  rice,  sugar,  and 
tea,  barrels  of  petroleum,  tinned  meat,  maize  and  oats  from 
America,  and  butter  and  cheese  from  New  Zealand.  A  vessel 
with  freezing  chambers  which  had  come  into  dock  was  send- 
ing its  cargo  of  40,000  Australian  sheep  into  warehouses 
kept  at  a  low  temperature.  A  sort  of  wooden  causeway 
connected  the  hold  of  the  vessel  with  the  warehouse,  and  the 
frozen  carcases  passed  in  quick  succession  down  the  inclined 
plane  and  were  piled  up  round  the  sides  of  the  freezing-house. 
Nothing  could  have  been  simpler  than  the  work  of  discharging 
this  cargo. 

Among  the  men  engaged  I  noticed  a  young  man  whose 
white  shirt  was  a  great  contrast  to  the  clothes  of  the  rest.  He 
was  wheeling  camphor,  and  his  unaccustomed  hands  were 

badly  blistered.  I  was  told  by  Captain  S that  he  was  a 

clerk  out  of  employment.  Here  was  one  man  who  would  get 
a  meal,  thanks  to  the  docks.  I  noticed  ill -looking  fellows, 
prisoners  just  discharged  from  gaol,  prowlers,  thieves,  public- 
house  loafers,  and  all  the  scum  of  a  great  city,  faces  of  a  type 
I  had  often  seen  in  my  rambles  in  the  East  End.  But  the 
majority  of  the  dockers  are  decent-looking  men,  though  with  a 
somewhat  depressed  air.  You  feel  that  life  is  hard  on  them, 
and  that  their  privations  are  many.  Suffering  has  left  its 
print  on  many  a  countenance  where  no  trace  of  vice  is  to  be 
seen. 


346  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  HI 

The  London  dockers,  as  a  body,  are  better  than  their 
reputation,  which  suffers  from  the  presence  of  the  lower 
element  and  the  fact  that  any  man  who  is  out  of  work  can 
present  himself  at  the  dock  gates  in  a  morning  with  some 
chance  of  obtaining  employment.  All  the  incapable,  the 
declasses,  the  incorrigibly  idle,  the  criminals,  may  prowl  about 
the  docks  and  call  themselves  dockers  out  of  a  job.  It  is  a 
ready  answer  to  inquisitive  policemen  and  to  charitable 
individuals  and  societies.  How,  indeed,  is  one  to  refuse  the 
title  of  docker  to  a  man  who  happens  to  have  helped  in  dis- 
charging a  vessel  for  a  few  hours  in  the  week  ?  Everybody 
knows  that  employment  is  very  irregular  at  the  docks,  and 
any  idler  may  pose  as  the  victim  of  this  irregularity. 

Miss  Beatrice  Potter  (Mrs.  Sidney  Webb),  whose  interest- 
ing study  of  the  dockers  may  be  found  in  the  first  volume  of 
Mr.  Charles  Booth's  Labour  and  Life  of  the  People,  estimates 
the  number  of  casual  workers  in  the  London  Docks  at  10,000. 
Out  of  this  number  the  average  number  employed  is  only 
about  3000  a  day,  that  is  to  say,  there  are  7000  dockers 
out  of  work  every  day.  This  is  excluding  the  stevedores, 
who  are  occasionally  out  of  work,  the  permanent  dockers, 
and  the  preferred  dockers,  whose  employment  is  not  absolutely 
guaranteed. 

The  situation  is  a  heartrending  one.  More  than  7000 
men,  most  of  whom  have  families,  are  daily  thrown  on  the 
streets  of  London  without  any  means  of  subsistence,  with 
mouths  to  feed  that  day,  and  rent  to  pay  at  the  end  of  the 
week.  More  than  7000  men  are  daily  exposed  to  the 
temptations  of  hunger,  intensified  by  the  sight  of  luxury 
around  them.  More  than  7000  men,  deprived  of  the 
means  of  making  a  living,  hear  it  said  on  every  side  that 
society  is  wrongly  organised,  and  that  every  man  has  a 
sacred  right  to  work  and  to  live.  Is  not  this  enough  to 
move  every  one  who  has  a  heart  to  the  deepest  sympathy, 
and  to  make  the  most  indifferent  of  the  well-to-do  classes 
tremble  ? 

In  the  face  of  the  sufferings  and  the  dangers  which  result 
from  such  a  state  of  things,  it  is  our  duty  to  ask  upon  whom 
the  responsibility  rests.  It  is  often  said  that  the  evil  is 
incurable,  and  that  the  irregularity  of  employment  in  the 


CHAP,  in  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  347 

docks  is  due  to  the  variations  in  the  quantity  of  cargo  to  be 
discharged  day  by  day.  A  little  observation  will  convince  us 
that  the  cause  put  forward  is  only  a  partial  one. 

Undoubtedly  the  docks  cannot,  like  a  great  factory,  employ 
thousands  of  hands  at  once  without  their  number  varying 
from  month  to  month,  and  often  from  year  to  year.  When  a 
vessel  belonging  to  the  Peninsular  and  Oriental  or  the  Allan 
Line  comes  into  dock,  a  large  number  of  hands  are  required 
to  discharge  her  cargo,  which  represents  a  considerable  capital. 
The  owners  cannot  afford  to  have  this  capital  unproductive 
for  very  long,  and  so  a  large  number  of  dockers  are  employed. 
When  several  large  vessels  come  into  the  same  dock  at  once 
there  is  a  great  demand  for  dockers,  while  two  or  three  days 
later  the  dock  may  be  empty  and  none  are  required.  Certain 
kinds  of  produce  arrive  almost  at  the  same  time.  After  the 
Australian  shearing  season,  for  instance,  St.  Katherine's  Docks 
are  crowded  with  wool  for  a  while,  and  then  a  period  of 
depression  follows.  Climatic  conditions  also  contribute  to  the 
irregularity  of  employment  in  the  docks.  In  spite  of  the 
decrease  of  the  number  of  sailing  vessels,  some  docks,  like  the 
East  India  Docks,  receive  a  great  many,  and  their  activity  is 
greatly  affected  by  the  direction  of  the  prevailing  winds,  which 
favour  or  retard  their  entrance  into  the  Thames.  Steady  rain 
also  leads  to  suspension  of  work,  except  where  vessels  are 
discharged  under  cover,  and  when  a  London  fog  shrouds  the 
Thames  it  prevents  ships  from  arriving  and  dockers  from 
working.  According  to  a  table  given  by  Mr.  Geoffrey  Drage 
in  his  recent  work  on  the  unemployed,  there  were  days  in  the 
month  of  December  1891  when  as  many  as  6000  dockers 
were  forced  by  the  fog  to  remain  idle.1 

But  the  effect  of  all  these  causes  taken  together  can  be 
measured  exactly.  If  we  take  the  maximum  and  minimum 
numbers  of  those  employed  at  the  docks  and  note  the  differ- 
ence, we  shall  have  the  extent  to  which  employment  varies  at 
the  docks.  Now,  even  when  the  greatest  activity  prevails, 
the  total  number  of  dockers  in  London  are  not  required. 
Evidently  the  number  of  dockers  is  too  great,  or  rather  the 
unemployed  of  other  trades  are  reckoned  as  dockers. 

1  The  Unemployed,  by  Geoffrey  Drage,  Secretary  to  the  Labour  Commission. 
Macniillan,  London,  1894.     Plate  V. 


348  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

Mr.  Geoffrey  Drage  estimates  the  total  number  of  men  of 
all  sorts  who  are  counted  as  dockers  in  London  at  22,000, 
without  counting  those  who  drift  in  occasionally  from  other 
trades.1  Out  of  these  about  16,000  are  employed  fairly 
regularly,  leaving  an  average  of  about  6000  unemployed 
every  day.  These  figures  correspond  with  those  given  by  Miss 
Beatrice  Potter. 

Are  these  6000  casuals  necessary  for  the  traffic  in 
the  docks  ?  If  we  take  the  maximum  number  of  dockers 
employed  in  any  day  in  the  year  between  April  1891  and 
April  1892  we  find  it  comes  to  17,994,  or  in  round  figures 
18,000.2  There  remain  4000  dockers  to  encumber  the 
market  to  no  purpose. 

For  these  4000  unemployed,  therefore,  the  docks  are  not 
really  responsible.  Their  existence  is  due  not  to  the  docks 
and  the  irregularity  of  work  in  the  docks,  but  to  the  abnormal 
state  of  the  trades  of  East  London. 

The  permanent  state  of  crisis  in  the  East  End  has  already 
been  described.  Trades  organised  on  antiquated  lines,  which 
retain  the  small  workshop  and  the  skilled  workman  and  give 
rise  to  the  sweating  system,  are  suffering  from  an  endemic 
malady,  and  the  suffering  falls  on  the  class  which  is  least 
well  fitted  to  bear  it.  It  is  this  class,  which  is  placed  in  a 
false  economic  position  and  involved  in  the  difficulties  which 
beset  small  trades  of  the  ancient  type,  which  goes  to 
swell  the  crowd  at  the  dock  gates  and  gives  rise  to  the 
congestion  we  have  seen.  The  unemployed  belonging  to 
the  vanquished  trades,  who  are  always  in  hopes  of  finding 
work  in  their  own  line,  temporarily  quit  the  workshop 
for  the  docks,  in  the  hope  of  providing  for  their  immediate 
wants  by  earning  a  day's  wages.  The  disorganisation  of 
labour  in  the  workshops  of  London  reacts  upon  labour  at 
the  docks. 

I  wish  to  lay  special  stress  on  this  point,  because  it  is 
usual  to  lay  the  blame  for  the  docker's  hard  lot  on  the  London 
docks  and  on  the  modern  methods  of  navigation,  which  are 
accused  of  having  introduced  into  work  at  the  docks  an  un- 
certainty unknown  under  the  old  coasting  system.  Ship- 
owners and  contractors  who  discharge  cargo  are  charged  with 

1   The  Unemployed,  p.  132.  2  Ibid. 


CHAP,  in  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  349 

aggravating  the  evil,  the  former  by  their  peremptory  attitude 
and  the  latter  by  their  indifference.  But  no  one  accuses 
the  chief  culprit,  the  set  of  decaying  trades  which  attract  to 
London  crowds  of  men  for  whom  they  are  unable  to  furnish 
normal  employment.  Dockers  are  in  a  better  position  in 
Liverpool,  Glasgow,  and  Hull  than  in  London,  and  for  the 
reason  just  given. 

Even  in  London  dockers  who  are  steady  men  and  good 
workers  do  not  suffer  in  the  same  way  as  the  less  respectable 
or  less  industrious.  It  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  suppose 
that  the  men  required  for  discharging  cargoes  are  chosen  by 
accident,  or  by  a  foreman's  caprice.  There  are  well-marked 
and  recognised  grades  among  dockers,  and  the  best  men  have 
a  good  chance  of  regular  employment. 

I  am  here  speaking  of  ordinary  dockers,  and  not  of 
stevedores,  who  have  been  classed  as  skilled  workmen,  nor  even 
of  the  men  engaged  at  Milwall  Docks  in  discharging  cargoes 
of  wood  and  grain,  whose  physical  strength  and  endurance 
make  them,  in  a  sense,  skilled  workmen.  I  refer,  not  to 
artisans,  but  to  mere  unskilled  labourers.  These  cannot  be 
grouped  according  to  the  degree  of  their  technical  knowledge 
but  only  by  personal  worth.  This  is  stated  in  Miss  Potter's 
conscientious  study  of  the  London  docks.1  "  The  most  strik- 
ing fact  observed  by  those  who  live  among  these  people  is 
that  there  are  definite  grades  of  wage-earning  capacity  or 
wage-earning  luck  corresponding  to  a  great  extent  with  dis- 
dinct  strata  of  moral  and  physical  condition  noticeable  in  the 
dock  and  waterside  population  of  Tower  Hamlets." 

Indeed,  in  all  the  docks  we  find  a  class  of  permanent 
dockers.  According  to  the  figures  given  by  Miss  Potter  there 
are  247  permanent  dockers  in  the  West  and  East  India 
Docks  against  1311  men  in  irregular  employment,  and  420 
in  the  London  and  St.  Katherine's  Docks  against  2200 
casuals.2 

But  among  these  casuals  there  are  the  preferred  men,  or 
royals,  or  ticket  men,  as  they  are  called  in  different  docks, 
who  are  always  taken  on  in  preference  to  other  applicants. 
These  are  to  some  extent  permanent  dockers.  Miss  Potter 

1  Labour  and  Life  of  the  People,  vol.  i.  p.  198. 
2  Ibid.,  p.  190. 


350  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

gives  700  such  men  at  the  West  and  East  India  Docks,  and 
estimates  the  number  of  casuals  at  the  same  docks  at  a 
minimum  figure  of  600.  In  the  London  and  St.  Katherine's 
Docks  the  ticket  men  number  450  and  the  minimum  number 
of  casuals  employed  is  not  under  1100.  In  practice  the 
ticket  men  are  permanently  employed. 

Thus  there  are  two  classes  of  dockers  who  are  freed  from 
much  uncertainty  of  employment  because  they  are  known  to 
be  industrious,  steady,  and  worthy  of  trust. 

This  proves  that  the  trade  is  not  so  badly  organised  as 
is  asserted,  and  that  a  respectable  man  finds  it  worth  his 
while. 

It  also  indicates  in  what  direction  a  remedy  should  be 
sought.  It  will  not  be  found  in  a  different  organisation  of 
the  docks,  nor  in  their  administration  by  a  public  body  under 
a  system  of  municipal  socialism.1  The  docks  might  possibly 
be  administered  in  this  manner,  but  that  would  not  give 
work  to  6000  or  7000  unemployed  who  present  themselves 
at  the  dock  gates,  nor  would  it  secure  regularity  of  employ- 
ment for  the  best  of  them.  The  problem  would  remain 
unchanged. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  easy  to  conceive  that  the  most 
respectable  and  industrious  of  the  dockers,  those  who  form  the 
better  class,  might  succeed  in  organising  a  business-like 
association  which  would  include  the  better  men  among  the 
occasional  dockers,  who  might  be  selected  by  the  simple 
method  of  a  high  enough  subscription ;  in  this  way  a  reserve 
fund  might  be  created  against  times  of  unemployment.  This 
would  clear  the  docks  of  the  idle,  the  criminal,  and  the 
drunken,  and  thus  improve  to  a  very  appreciable  extent  the 
position  of  those  who  remained. 

It  is  clear  that  the  dockers  suffer  from  the  inrush  of  the 
scum  of  East  London.  The  calling  needs  to  be  purified  by 
the  elimination  of  the  sham  docker,  a  measure  which  would 
make  a  very  great  difference  to  the  position  of  the  rest. 

We  must,  however,  beware  of  radical  or  puerile  remedies. 
No  one,  no  government,  no  municipality,  no  official  body,  no 
philanthropic  society,  no  authority,  no  devotion,  can  bring 

1  Miss   Potter  thinks   that  a  system  of  public  trust  might  improve  the 
dockers'  position  (Labour  and  Life  of  the  People,  vol.  i.  p.  206). 


CHAP,  in  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  351 

about  this  selection  of  the  fittest.  No  one  but  the  masters 
and  men  themselves  are  qualified  for  the  task. 

The  London  and  India  Docks  Committee  have  recently 
introduced  what  is  known  as  the  List  System.  Its  object  is 
to  increase  the  number  of  permanent  men  as  far  as  possible, 
and  to  divide  the  others  into  three  classes  according  to  their 
efficiency  and  steadiness.1  Class  A  is  always  employed  in 
preference  to  Class  B,  and  Class  B  in  preference  to  Class  C,  for 
occasional  jobs.  Eegard  is  also  had,  though  less  rigidly,  to 
the  position  a  man  holds  in  any  of  these  classes,  so  that  men 
may  be  hired  in  order  of  merit.  In  this  way  the  best  men 
get  the  work.  The  attempt  is  a  recent  one,  and  it  is  too  soon 
to  judge  of  its  fruits,  but  it  attacks  the  problem  from  the 
right  side.2 

The  men  can  give  useful  assistance  in  the  task  of  selec- 
tion to  the  masters  who  form  the  joint  committee,  by  supplying 
a  rough  classification  which  might  facilitate  their  task. 

Their  success  depends  entirely  upon  themselves.  They 
must  be  sincere  in  their  desire  to  co-operate  with  their  em- 
ployers as  far  as  possible,  and  they  must  find  men  capable  of 
grouping  and  leading  them,  and  of  understanding  and  defend- 
ing their  true  interests. 

This  is  no  visionary  scheme  or  fanciful  solution.  We 
shall  shortly  see  that  the  Union  movement  is  growing  among 
the  dockers,  and  that  it  has  already  led  to  results.  Before 
examining  the  general  case,  we  will,  in  order  to  understand  the 
force  involved,  rapidly  observe  a  prosperous  docker,  and  judge 
what  material,  intellectual,  and  moral  resources  such  a  one  can 
bring  to  a  Dockers'  Union. 

II.  An  East  End  Docker. 

James  Molony  is  a  docker  at  St.  Katherine's  Docks.  He 
does  not  belong  to  any  privileged  class,  and  is  neither  a 
stevedore,  a  permanent  docker,  nor  a  ticket  man.  Every 
morning  he  is  at  St.  Katherine's  Docks  before  six  in  search  of 

1  The  Unemployed,  p.  137. 

2  Mr.  Charles  Booth,  who  is  an  authority  on  all  questions  relating  to  labour 
in  London,  thinks  the  best  remedy  for  the  dockers'  difficulties  would  be  a  Last 
System  of  a  perfect  kind. 


352  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  m 

employment,  and  he  is  almost  always  successful.  He  told  me 
he  had  only  lost  four  days  since  the  great  strike  of  1889, 
that  is  to  say,  in  four  years.  I  was  greatly  surprised,  and  he 
added  that  steady  men  had  no  difficulty  in  getting  employ- 
ment. 

This,  it  should  be  noted,  was  at  St.  Katherine's  Docks, 
where  only  450  permanent  hands  are  employed,  of  whom 
Molony  is  not  one.  There  are,  consequently,  men  who  are 
really  permanently  employed,  though  not  officially  recognised  as 
such.  Employment  is  considered  to  be  particularly  irregular 
at  St.  Katherine's  Docks  because  of  the  quantity  of  wool  dis- 
charged, which  only  comes  into  the  port  during  six  out  of  the 
twelve  months.  Here  is  a  man  who,  notwithstanding  these 
unfavourable  conditions,  gets  regular  employment  because  he 
is  a  steady  man. 

Molony  is  paid  6d.  an  hour  like  all  dockers,  and  as  he  is 
generally  employed  every  day  and  all  day,  he  earns  on  an 
average  30s.  a  week.1  He  sometimes  works  overtime  at  the 
rate  of  Yd.  an  hour,  which  increases  this  total,  but  on  the 
other  hand  he  is  sometimes  discharged  before  he  has  com- 
pleted a  ten  hours  day.  He  estimates  his  average  wages  at 
30s.  a  week. 

This  is  a  high  wage,  if  we  compare  it  with  those  of  other 
workmen  we  have  studied.  It  is  more  than  is  earned  by 
Clippendale,  the  Galashiels  weaver,  and  though  it  is  generally 
exceeded  by  miners  in  the  Midlands  during  winter,  yet  in 
summer  they  do  not  earn  any  such  sum,  as  they  are  obliged 
to  work  less  than  the  full  week.  Many  engineers  are  satis- 
fied with  such  a  wage. 

Here,  however,  rent  is  a  heavy  item.  Molony  pays  6s. 
6d.  a  week  for  accommodation  which  is  nothing  to  boast  of. 
He  has  two  rooms,  together  measuring  about  30  square  yards, 
in  which  he  lives  with  his  wife  and  eight  children.  Of  course 
there  is  no  chance  here  of  workmen  owning  their  own  houses 
or  of  occupying  a  house  to  themselves.  St.  Katherine's 
Docks  are  near  the  Tower,  and  the  dockers  employed  there  are 
obliged  to  live  in  the  populous  and  crowded  neighbourhood  of 
Tower  Hill,  in  order  to  get  to  their  work  in  the  morning.  A 
two-storey  house  with  two  front  windows  lets  for  £1  a  week 

1  Saturday  is  generally  a  half-holiday  at  the  docks. 


CHAP,  in  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  353 

in  Great  Prescott  Street.  It  contains  about  the  same  space 
as  the  house  of  a  working-class  family  in  one  of  the  Lancashire 
industrial  centres,  but  what  working-class  family  could  afford 
a  rent  of  £1  a  week !  Thus  these  houses,  originally  built  for 
a  single  family  when  rents  were  lower,  now  contain  three,  or 
four,  and  sometimes  more,  for  many  families  are  contented  with 
one  room.  It  is  the  tenement  house  system  with  all  the 
drawbacks  resulting  from  promiscuity,  bad  hygienic  and  moral 
conditions,  and  high  rents  into  the  bargain. 

Around  the  Eoyal  Albert  Docks,  which  are  further  out, 
rents  are  not  so  high,  and  I  was  shown  houses  which  do  not 
cost  more  than  8s.  or  10s.  a  week.  But  this  is  far  too  much 
for  the  immense  majority  of  working-class  families,  and  the 
tenement  house  is  the  general  rule.  The  smaller  houses  are 
sometimes  occupied  by  only  one  family,  but  such  a  family 
generally  lightens  the  rent  by  taking  a  single  man  as  a 
lodger. 

In  the  Tower  Hill  district  a  man  must  resign  himself  to 
the  tenement  as  Molony  has  done,  though  it  is  a  good  deal 
crowded  when  there  are  eight  children !  A  good  wife,  how- 
ever, manages  to  keep  her  tiny  home  in  fair  order,  notwith- 
standing the  want  of  room.  Mrs.  Molony's  rooms  are 
thoroughly  respectable  in  appearance,  the  children  have  clean 
faces,  the  furniture  is  carefully  kept,  and  there  is  a  general  air 
of  propriety  about  the  place.  On  Sunday,  when  Molony 
repairs  to  a  sort  of  workman's  club  to  which  he  belongs,  he 
presents  a  most  respectable  appearance,  with  his  clothes  well 
brushed,  a  white  shirt,  a  watch-chain,  and  his  boots  carefully 
blacked.  Being  an  Irishman,  he  goes  regularly  to  church,  and 
much  of  his  conduct  shows  the  influence  of  his  religious  con- 
victions. Moral  elevation  and  a  regular  mode  of  life  are 
here  combined. 

But  how  does  Molony  manage  to  keep  a  wife  and  children 
on  30s.  a  week,  when  6s.  6d.  has  to  go  for  rent  ?  His  eldest 
daughter  has  assisted  him  for  some  time  in  this  difficult  task. 
She  is  employed  by  a  dressmaker  who  gives  her  her  dinner 
and  tea  and  2s.  a  day.  This  makes  12s.  a  week  in  money, 
but  practically  it  is  only  9s.  a,  week,  because  she  has  to 
spend  3s.  in  travelling.  This  gives  the  family  a  total  of  39s. 
a  week. 

2  A 


354  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

These  resources  will  increase  rapidly  as  the  children  reach 
an  age  when  their  work  brings  in  something.  However, 
London,  and  especially  this  part  of  London,  does  not  offer  the 
same  facilities  in  this  respect  as  manufacturing  towns  in  the 
strict  sense  of  the  term.  There  are  not  the  same  chances  of 
employment,  especially  for  girls,  as  in  Oldham,  Eochdale, 
Galashiels,  Dunfermline,  etc.  There  are  no  large  factories  in 
the  neighbourhood  to  pay  high  wages,  and  the  daughters 
of  the  St.  Katherine's  dockers  generally  work  for  Jewish 
tailors,  who  exploit  them  by  overworking  and  under-paying 
them.  Here  again  we  find  the  sweating  system,  the  cause 
and  disastrous  consequences  of  which  have  already  been 
considered,  and  we  now  see  that  the  faulty  organisation  of 
labour  in  London  indirectly  affects  the  position  of  dockers' 
families. 

Certainly,  neither  the  social  environment  nor  the  economic 
conditions  are  favourable  to  a  speedy  improvement  in  the 
position  of  steady  industrious  men,  nor  is  it  easy  for  them  to 
push  to  the  front.  The  metropolis  is  greatly  inferior  in  this 
respect  to  busy  manufacturing  centres  like  Birmingham,  Leeds, 
or  the  Lancashire  towns,  where  the  industrial  evolution  is 
much  further  advanced  and  more  general  than  in  London. 
Yet  here  is  a  family,  not  differing  from  many  others,  of  Irish 
origin,  burdened  with  young  children,  and  obliged  from  the 
nature  of  the  father's  work  to  live  in  a  poor  and  overcrowded 
quarter,  which  nevertheless  succeeds  in  solving  the  problem 
of  existence  by  its  own  unaided  efforts.  These  efforts  and  the 
results  thus  achieved  are  the  measure  of  its  worth. 

Let  us  hope  that  there  are  many  such.  Persons  who  are 
brought  into  constant  contact  with  dockers  have  assured  me 
that,  as  a  body,  they  are  making  evident  progress.  An  official 
connected  with  the  docks  told  me  that  education  has  been 
spreading  for  years,  that  the  language  is  less  coarse,  and  that 
there  is  a  growing  desire  among  the  men  to  better  themselves. 
He  lives  in  Poplar,  which  is  a  dockers'  quarter,  and  there  the 
free  libraries  are  always  full  of  men  reading  for  information  on 
solid  subjects.  One  copy  of  Engineering,  a  practical  periodical 
devoted  to  mechanical  inventions,  and  sometimes  more  than 
one,  is  always  taken  at  the  libraries,  and  there  is  always  a 
rush  for  it. 


CHAP,  in  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  355 

Thus  are  there  scattered  elements  of  promise,  and  the 
question  is  whether  they  are  capable  of  effective  organisation. 
The  history  of  the  recent  strikes,  and  of  the  formation  of  the 
Dockers'  Unions,  will  show. 

III.   The  Dockers'  Unions. 

Dockers'  Unions  appeared  on  the  scene  at  the  time  of  the 
great  strike  in  the  summer  of  1889.  Their  first  recognition 
and  their  first  success  date  from  this  strike,  at  the  close  of 
which  the  dockers  obtained  certain  very  real  advantages, 
which  marked  their  first  step  in  the  paths  of  an  efficient 
organisation  of  labour. 

The  real  cause  of  the  dockers'  rising,  the  original  and 
underlying  cause,  was  the  instability  of  the  conditions  of 
labour  caused  by  the  excessive  congestion  of  the  trade,  which, 
in  its  turn,  was  due  to  the  abnormal  state  of  the  small  trades 
carried  on  in  London.  This  cause  is  a  chronic  one,  and 
nothing  but  an  opportunity  was  needed  to  precipitate  a 
serious  crisis. 

It  came  in  the  shape  of  an  incident  which  did  little 
honour  to  the  administration  of  the  docks  belonging  to  the 
joint  committee.  I  give  the  story  as  it  was  told  to  me  by  an 
eye-witness,  who  was  well  acquainted  with  the  organisation  of 
the  London  docks,  and  whose  position  would  have  disposed 
him  to  side  against  the  dockers. 

This  is  his  version  of  what  happened.  The  dock  com- 
panies are  in  the  habit  of  paying  a  bonus  in  certain  cases  to 
induce  the  men  engaged  in  discharging  a  vessel  to  get  through 
their  task  quickly.  In  addition  to  the  wages  which  they  are 
paid  by  the  hour  they  receive  an  additional  sum  fixed  by  the 
piece  according  to  the  rapidity  with  which  the  vessel  is  dis- 
charged. The  sum  is  calculated  with  reference  to  the  nature, 
the  volume,  and  the  weight  of  the  cargo,  but  as  this  involves 
a  variety  of  arithmetical  operations  and  only  the  companies 
know  the  data,  the  dockers  have  no  power  of  checking 
the  amount,  and  have  to  rely  on  the  good  faith  of  their 
employers. 

However,  those  who  work  at  the  docks  regularly  can  form 
an  approximate  idea  of  the  sum  due.  One  day  a  squad  of 


356  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

dockers  had  been  engaged  in  discharging  a  vessel  which  often 
came  to  London,  and  for  which  the  same  number  of  men 
working  the  same  number  of  hours  with  much  the  same  cargo 
had  received  Is.  4d.  extra  apiece  after  a  recent  voyage.  They 
were  therefore  very  disagreeably  surprised  to  see  a  notice  that 
the  extra  amount  due  was  only  2d.,  and  so  unjustifiable  did 
the  difference  seem  that  they  refused  to  accept  it.  Next 
morning  a  notice  was  posted  stating  that  the  amount  was  6d., 
and  that  the  company  had  made  a  mistake.  The  breach  of 
good  faith  was  obvious,  and  the  concession  was  a  blunder. 
The  dockers,  who  had  been  excited  by  the  incident  of 
the  preceding  evening,  left  the  docks,  and  thus  the  strike 
began. 

It  was  long  and  painful.  The  dockers  had  no  large  strike 
fund  like  the  miners  of  the  Midlands  and  the  Lancashire 
textile  operatives.  It  was  easy  for  the  dock  companies  to  fill 
their  places,  and  without  the  support  of  the  Stevedores'  Unions 
the  strike  would  unquestionably  have  failed.  The  opposition 
of  the  stevedores  greatly  embarrassed  the  dock  companies,  for 
though  they  could  prolong  the  strike  they  could  not  nullify  its 
consequences  by  taking  chance  individuals  to  load  vessels. 

Thanks  to  the  stevedores,  the  dockers'  strike  led  to  results 
which  benefited  the  whole  trade.  At  the  same  time  some 
well-known  men  were  engaged  in  the  useful  task  of  organising 
the  Dockers'  Union  and  forcing  the  dock  companies  to  recognise 
it.  John  Burns,  Tom  Mann,  and  Ben  Tillett  called  meetings, 
and  Cardinal  Manning  intervened  in  the  dispute.  When  it 
ended  a  new  situation  had  begun  to  develop. 

A  Board  of  Arbitration  was  established  to  prevent  disputes 
in  the  future,  which  implied  that  the  companies  would  treat 
with  the  dockers  on  equal  terms,  and  opened  the  door  to  con- 
ciliation and  to  the  settlement  of  possible  difficulties  by 
diplomatic  methods. 

The  dockers  also  obtained  other  advantages.  Their  wages 
were  raised  from  5d.  to  6d.  an  hour,  and  a  very  important 
clause  provided  that  no  docker  should  be  engaged  for  less  than 
four  hours.  Thus  every  man  who  was  hired  in  the  morning 
at  the  dock  gates  was  assured  of  earning  at  least  2s.,  which 
was  a  marked  improvement  upon  the  former  position.  Pre- 
viously, it  had  frequently  happened  that  in  order  to  facili- 


CHAP,  in  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  357 

tate  the  unloading  of  a  vessel  a  large  number  of  men  were 
engaged,  and  then  dismissed,  sometimes  at  the  end  of  the  first 
hour.  In  that  case  the  unfortunate  docker  was  only  entitled 
to  5d.,  and  had  no  chance  of  being  re-engaged.  This  was  a 
crying  abuse,  which  had  the  double  disadvantage  of  meaning 
the  loss  of  a  day's  work  to  the  men  dismissed,  and  of  leading 
to  the  congestion  of  the  trade  by  multiplying  and  exaggerating 
the  chances  of  employment. 

This  assertion  of  the  right  to  a  minimum  day  of  four  hours 
is  the  first  important  step  in  the  way  already  pointed  out.1  It 
tends  to  reduce  the  excessive  supply  of  unskilled  labour  which 
is  a  burden  to  the  docks,  and  to  keep  out  professional  loafers, 
who  are  glad  enough  to  earn  the  price  of  a  glass  of  beer  or 
whiskey,  but  reluctant  to  undertake  four  hours'  steady  work. 

Thus  the  Dockers'  Union,  though  organised  in  the  midst 
of  a  crisis,  and  therefore  under  very  unfavourable  conditions, 
succeeded  in  obtaining  a  valuable  reform,  and  this  by  its  own 
efforts  and  without  the  intervention  of  any  public  authority. 

They  have  more  to  do  yet.  They  must  carry  on  the  pro- 
cess of  selection  which  has  already  been  begun  by  the 
establishment  of  the  four  hours  day,  and  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  some  companies  are  trying  to  organise  by  grouping 
together  the  better  elements  among  the  dockers. 

The  Hull  strike  in  1893  witnessed  progress  in  this  direc- 
tion. It  began  in  a  dispute  in  which  it  is  difficult  to  decide 
which  side  was  to  blame.  Mr.  C.  H.  Wilson,  M.P.  for  Hull, 
the  head  of  one  of  the  largest  firms  of  shipowners  in  the  king- 
dom, had  shown  the  greatest  interest  in  the  Dockers'  Unions  in 
their  early  days,  and  had  been  among  the  first  to  recognise 
them.  This  was  in  1889,  at  the  time  of  the  great  dock  strike 
in  London.  In  April  1894  the  friendly  relations  which  had 
existed  for  more  than  four  years  between  the  shipowner  and 
the  Unions  had  become  extremely  strained.  Mr.  Wilson  com- 
plained that  the  dockers  were  always  wanting  fresh  concessions, 
and  not  only  claimed  the  right  to  organise  themselves,  which  he 
was  willing  to  grant,  but  also  wished  to  impose  upon  the  masters 

1  At  Liverpool  the  right  to  the  half  day  has  long  been  admitted.  This  shows 
that  there  it  is  possible  to  organise  labour  in  the  docks  in  a  more  normal 
manner  than  in  London,  and  without  a  struggle.  Liverpool,  unlike  London,  is 
not  crushed  by  the  number  of  unemployed  which  results  from  the  dying  condition 
of  the  small  industries  of  the  metropolis. 


358  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  m 

impossible  conditions  and  complicated  regulations,  which  would 
be  found  excessive  and  impossible  to  realise  in  practice.  It  is 
by  no  means  improbable  that  this  was  so,  and  that  the 
Dockers'  Union,  intoxicated  by  its  recent  success,  had  fallen 
into  the  mistake  which  has  been  pointed  out  in  the  case  of 
other  organisations  of  labour.  Like  the  Midland  Counties 
Miners'  Federation,  it  may  have  believed  itself  stronger  than 
circumstances,  and  omitted  to  take  into  account  the  difficulties 
inherent  in  the  constitution  of  the  trade.  Hence  would  arise 
the  masters'  complaints. 

The  dockers,  on  their  side,  had  serious  grievances  to  make 
known  through  their  leaders.  Mr.  J.  Havelock  Wilson,  M.P. 
for  Middlesborough,  the  founder  of  the  Sailors'  and  Firemen's 
Union,  Mr.  Tom  Mann,  and  others  affirmed  that  the  ship- 
owners did  not  keep  their  promises,  that  they  took  back 
privately  the  concessions  they  made  publicly,  and  that  on  the 
pretext  of  being  unwilling  to  shut  out  men  not  belonging  to 
the  Union  they  were  burdening  the  trade  with  incompetent 
men  and  bringing  down  wages. 

So  far  as  one  can  judge,  it  would  seem  that  the  Union 
wished  to  limit  the  number  of  men  employed  at  the  docks  by 
artificial  and  hasty  means  and  by  combinations  tending  to  the 
corporate  type,  while  the  shipowners  were  averse  to  the  forma- 
tion of  a  body  of  preferred  dockers,  and  kept  an  excessive 
number  of  dockers  at  Hull  in  order  to  stimulate  competition 
and  escape  any  control  on  the  part  of  the  Union.  Both  sides 
were  endeavouring  to  thwart  each  other  instead  of  uniting 
their  efforts,  by  which  method  alone  could  any  satisfactory 
result  be  attained. 

Early  in  April  1893  a  strike  was  declared  by  the  Hull 
Dockers'  Union.  The  shipowners  appealed  to  free  labour,  but 
were  obliged  to  ask  for  military  protection  for  those  who  re- 
sponded. Some  bloodshed  occurred,  and  the  strike  was  not 
uniformly  well  conducted,  in  which  respect  it  differed  from  the 
greater  number  of  English  strikes.  The  Dockers'  Union  had 
not  long  been  formed,  and  was  betrayed  into  some  youthful 
indiscretions  from  lack  of  experience  on  the  part  of  its  leaders. 
It  was  too  young  to  have  reached  the  mature  wisdom  of  the 
older  Unions — the  Miners'  Federation,  the  Amalgamated  Union 
of  Engineers,  or  the  Textile  Operatives'  Union. 


CHAP,  in  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  359 

The  Hull  strike  differed  from  most  strikes  in  another 
respect.  It  was  not  caused  by  any  dispute  about  the  rate  of 
wages,  and  the  best  proof  of  this  is  that  the  shipowners 
agreed  to  pay  non-union  men  Is.  a  day  more  than  the  ordinary 
rate,  in  order  to  guarantee  them  lodging,  beer,  tobacco,  etc. 
The  question  at  issue  was  really  whether  the  Shipowners' 
Federation,  which  the  firm  had  joined  at  the  beginning  of 
the  struggle,  was  to  yield  to  the  Dockers'  Union  or  whether 
the  Union  was  to  declare  itself  beaten  ? 

As  the  debate  increased  in  bitterness,  both  sides  began  to  in- 
crease their  claims,  and  aimed  at  crushing  the  rival  organisation. 
All  Dockers'  Unions  felt  themselves  menaced.  Mr.  J.  H.  Wilson, 
M.P.,  whose  official  connection  with  the  Sailors'  Union  made 
him  a  prominent  figure  in  the  eyes  of  the  dockers  in  every 
seaport,  set  to  work  to  stir  up  their  zeal  and  provoke  a  general 
strike.  Things  seemed  to  be  on  the  eve  of  a  crisis  which 
would  spread  from  Hull  to  London,  Liverpool,  Bristol,  Cardiff, 
and  other  ports. 

On  1 6th  April  the  representative  of  sixteen  London  Dockers' 
Unions  held  a  meeting  at  which  it  was  resolved  to  suspend 
work  on  the  afternoon  of  the  1 7th.  Great  excitement  prevailed 
in  Liverpool  and  Cardiff,  and  the  outlook  was  a  gloomy  one. 

Next  day,  however,  symptoms  of  a  better  state  of  feeling 
appeared.  A  meeting  of  delegates  from  the  Dockers'  Unions 
belonging  to  different  ports  rejected  the  resolution  of  the 
London  dockers,  and  urged  that  before  resorting  to  a  general 
strike  a  settlement  should  be  proposed  to  the  Hull  dockers 
and  employers.  The  proposed  settlement  contained  an  im- 
portant concession.  Hitherto  the  Hull  Dockers'  Union  had 
openly  refused  to  accept  the  federation  ticket  issued  by  the 
Shipowners'  Federation,  which  bound  them  to  allow  the 
presence  of  non-union  men  in  the  docks  and  to  work  along 
with  them.  In  the  settlement  proposed  by  the  general 
meeting  of  dockers'  representatives,  the  Hull  Union  dockers 
were  to  abandon  this  uncompromising  attitude,  on  condition 
that  the  bureau  of  free  labour  should  be  placed  under  the 
control  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  instead  of  being  entirely  de- 
pendent on  the  shipowners.  This  was  intended  to  prevent 
the  shipowners  from  overstocking  the  labour  market  with 
incapable  men. 


360  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

This  proves  that  notwithstanding  the  excitement  of  the 
struggle  the  dockers'  representatives  were  amenable  to  reason. 
This  fact  is  worthy  of  note,  for  it  shows  that,  young  and  re- 
cently organised  as  they  were,  the  Dockers'  Unions  knew  how 
to  choose  reasonable  men  as  leaders.  This  is  the  best  proof  of 
fitness  for  self -government.  At  the  moment  when  the  excitement 
was  at  its  height,  on  1st  April,  the  Times  correspondent 
met  Mr.  Tom  Mann  in  the  lobby  of  the  House  of  Commons 
and  asked  him  if  he  apprehended  a  general  strike.  "  No," 
said  Mr.  Mann,  after  a  moment's  thought,  "  I  hope  and  believe 
that  nothing  of  the  kind  will  happen."  x 

It  did  not  happen,  thanks  to  the  good  advice  given  to  the 
London  dockers  by  John  Burns,  Ben  Tillett,  and  Tom  Mann, 
the  very  men  who  had  urged  them  to  resistance  in  1889. 
The  Dockers'  Unions,  instead  of  endeavouring  to  aggravate  and 
embitter  the  local  dispute  at  Hull  by  suspending  the  traffic  in 
all  the  other  ports,  intervened  to  settle  it.  This  marks  the 
beginning  of  the  era  of  negotiations.  Mr.  Mundella,  on  his 
side,  did  all  he  could  to  bring  about  an  understanding,  thus 
lending  the  assistance  of  his  experience  to  the  law  regarding 
arbitration,  of  which  he  had  been  the  pioneer.  These  attempts 
at  reconciliation  were  facilitated  by  the  position  of  the  strike 
leaders.  Mr.  T.  H.  Wilson,  M.P.  for  Middlesborough,  could 
treat  on  equal  terms  with  Mr.  C.  H.  Wilson,  M.P.  for  Hull. 
John  Burns  was  M.P.  for  Battersea  and  Tom  Mann  was  a 
member  of  the  Labour  Commission.  These  men  were  accus- 
tomed to  discuss  and  settle  important  questions  in  conjunction 
with  persons  in  high  positions,  while  they  were  closely  in  touch 
with  those  whose  interests  they  represented. 

However,  some  time  elapsed  before  a  settlement  was 
reached,  and  for  six  weeks  the  Hull  strike  seriously  injured 
both  the  dockers  and  the  interests  of  the  shipowners.  Pie- 
grettable  scenes  occurred,  and  though  the  leaders  preserved 
a  calm  and  self-respecting  attitude,  they  found  it  impossible  to 
induce  the  bulk  of  the  dockers  to  follow  their  example. 

At  last,  on  19th  May,  an  agreement  was  signed  be- 
tween the  Hull  dockers  and  shipowners.  Both  sides  were 
weary  of  the  struggle,  and  the  terms  accepted  differed  but 
little  from  those  which  had  been  proposed  a  month  before. 

1  See  Times,  19th  April  1893. 


CHAP,  in  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  361 

The  masters  undertook  to  show  no  partiality  to  non-union 
men,  and  the  Union  agreed  to  allow  their  presence  in  the 
docks.  The  arrangement  did  credit  to  both  parties,  and  much 
suffering,  loss,  and  disturbance  might  have  been  averted  but 
for  the  heated  feeling  on  both  sides  which  had  prolonged  the 
strike  to  no  purpose  for  four  weeks. 

From  a  general  point  of  view,  the  result  of  the  Hull  strike 
strengthened  the  hands  of  the  Dockers'  Union.  The  men 
emerged  from  the  struggle  with  an  organisation  which  had 
stood  the  test,  and  with  leaders  who  had  shown  themselves 
worthy  of  the  confidence  of  their  fellows  and  the  respect  of 
their  opponents.  The  Union,  whose  very  existence  had  at 
one  moment  been  threatened  by  the  Shipowners'  Federation, 
was  now  an  established  fact. 

In  addition  to  this  they  had  learned  a  lesson.  The  failure 
of  the  Hull  dockers  to  shut  the  labour  market  against  non- 
union men  by  means  of  strict  regulations  showed  that  future 
solutions  would  not  lie  in  that  direction.  The  true  solution 
was  evidently  a  serious  system  of  organisation  on  the  part  of 
the  dockers,  which  should  be  sufficiently  flexible  to  allow  of 
the  employment  of  non-unionists  at  any  given  moment,  and 
yet  sufficiently  strong  to  make  it  to  the  employers'  interest 
to  co-operate  with  the  Union. 

Directly  the  Union  allows  non-union  men  to  be  employed 
in  the  docks  the  necessary  condition  of  flexibility  is  satisfied, 
and  the  masters  have  no  longer  any  cause  to  resent  the  tyranny 
of  a  labour  monopoly  which  is  fraught  with  grave  danger  to 
their  interests. 

It  therefore  remains  to  organise  Unions  in  such  a  way  as 
to  make  it  to  the  employers'  interest  to  deal  with  them.  This 
can  be  done  if  the  men  profit  by  the  example  of  prudence  set 
by  their  leaders,  by  excluding  the  turbulent  elements  and 
grouping  together  the  most  industrious  and  reasonable  members 
among  them,  in  a  word,  by  a  process  of  selecting  the  fittest. 
When  they  have  achieved  this  result  shipowners  and  dock 
contractors  will  be  only  too  glad  to  find  the  task  of  selection, 
which  they  cannot  easily  do  for  themselves,  done  for  them, 
and  to  give  the  preference  to  the  squads  indicated  by  the 
Union.  This  will  be  a  List  System  with  a  classification  agreed 
to  by  both  parties. 


362  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

In  other  words,  the  docker's  calling  would  be  greatly 
benefited — from  the  point  of  view  of  the  masters  not  less  than 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  men — by  a  normal  organisation 
of  labour  associations.  It  is  to  this  end  that  the  efforts  of 
shipowners,  dock  companies,  stevedores,  and  dockers  should  be 
devoted,  since  all  would  gain  by  it. 

Attempts  have  been  made  to  contrast  the  processes 
employed  by  the  old  Unions  of  skilled  labourers  and  the  new 
Unions  of  unskilled  labourers,  and  it  has  been  said  that  the 
former  relied  on  private  initiative,  while  the  latter  were  more 
disposed  to  State  intervention  and  Socialism.  There  appears 
to  be  no  justification  for  this  distinction  between  the  Old  and 
New  Unionism.  We  saw  in  the  earlier  chapters  of  this  work 
that  skilled  workmen  who  are  threatened  by  the  evolution  of 
industry  cry  out  for  legislative  protection  for  their  exclusive 
tactics,  while  dockers,  who  are  essentially  unskilled  labourers, 
succeed  without  such  assistance  in  forming  Unions  to  which 
a  powerful  organisation  like  the  Shipowners'  Federation  is 
obliged  to  yield,  and  that  private  initiative  seems  sufficient 
to  ensure  success.  Socialism,  with  its  apparently  easy  solu- 
tions, may  fascinate  bodies  of  men  who  are  well  disciplined  but 
confronted  with  insurmountable  difficulties,  like  the  plumbers, 
typographers,  and  all  the  other  trades  in  which  the  members  are 
capable  of  good  organisation,  but  the  conditions  of  which  have 
been  changed  by  the  pressure  of  circumstances  too  strong 
for  them.  It  has  an  equal  fascination  for  groups  without 
cohesion,  hastily  organised  and  incapable  of  self-direction.  To 
the  first  Socialism  seems  a  means  of  constraint  fitted  to  supple- 
ment their  means  of  defence,  while  to  the  second  it  seems  a 
ready-made  system  fitted  to  supply  their  incapacity  for  self- 
organisation.  In  both  cases  a  leaning  towards  Socialism  is  an 
evidence  of  inferiority. 

All  the  strong  organisations,  in  which  capable  men  combine 
to  secure  a  possible  end,  will  be  found  on  the  side  of  private 
initiative  and  free  association.  The  Old  Trade  Unionism, 
erroneously  so  called  because  its  methods  have  stood  the  test, 
instead  of  being  likely  to  disappear,  has  before  it  a  vast  field, 
and  we  do  not  yet  know  all  its  reserve  force. 

Its  best  chance  of  success  lies  in  the  adoption  of  the 
remedy  we  have  already  indicated  for  the  individual  difficulties 


CHAP,  in  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  363 

which  the  modern  workman  has  to  meet.  The  Labour 
Question  does  not  admit  of  two  distinct  solutions,  one  for 
individuals,  and  one  for  trades  as  a  body.  There  is  only  one 
solution,  and  it  consists  in  raising  the  workman.  Let  him 
learn  how  to  act  and  how  to  recover  himself,  let  him  become 
capable  of  combination,  and,  when  inevitable  difficulties  arise, 
of  arriving  at  a  peaceful  solution  in  concert  with  his  employers, 
and  he  will  find  amid  the  incessant  changes  brought  about  by 
material  progress  the  moral  stability  which  he  needs. 


CHAPTEE  IV 

THE  MEANS  OF  ELEVATION  WITHIN  THE  REACH  OF  ENGLISH 
WORKING  MEN  FOR  THE  SOLUTION  OF  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION 

THE  course  of  our  inquiry  has  led  us  to  a  general  conclusion. 

We  have  seen  that  the  mere  fact  of  belonging  to  a  trade, 
no  matter  what  it  may  be  or  how  strongly  it  may  be  organised, 
is  not  in  itself  enough  to  guarantee  the  workman  against 
unemployment. 

We  have  also  seen  that  amid  the  general  instability  of  the 
various  trades  there  is  one  efficacious  method  by  which  a  man 
can  ensure  his  own  individual  prosperity. 

The  most  striking  type  of  an  energetic  and  well-organised 
career  which  we  have  encountered  in  the  course  of  our  inquiry 
was  in  a  doomed  trade  whose  ruin  is  imminent.1 

It  has  also  been  pointed  out  that  there  is  danger  in 
clinging  too  tightly  to  a  trade  which  owes  to  some  special 
circumstance  its  temporary  immunity  from  unemployment, 
without  taking  into  account  the  changes  which  the  future  will 
probably  bring. 

In  short,  the  workman  is  no  longer  secure  in  clinging  to  a 
trade,  and  it  is  folly  on  his  part  to  throw  in  his  future  lot 
with  the  uncertain  future  of  his  trade.  Security  can  come 
only  through  his  power  to  judge  for  himself  as  to  the  best 
mode  of  employing  his  abilities,  to  decide  on  his  course  at 
every  step,  and,  in  a  word,  to  undertake  the  direction  of  his 
own  life. 

Before  the  application  of  steam  power  to  industrial  pur- 
poses, a  steady  industrious  man  when  once  admitted  into  a 

1  Part  I.  chap.  i. 


CHAP,  iv  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  365 

skilled  trade  was  likely  to  remain  at  it  as  long  as  he  lived, 
without  a  very  wide  outlook,  but  without  any  serious 
anxieties.  No  doubt  frequent  difficulties  arose,  and  the  trade 
guilds  were  constantly  bringing  suits  against  each  other  for 
encroachments,  which  plainly  meant  that  they  were  anxious  to 
crush  successful  competition.  But  resistance  was  easier  and 
the  suits  dragged  on,  for  both  triumph  and  defeat  were  slow 
processes  and  there  was  plenty  of  time. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  prudent  though  not  ad- 
venturous course,  which  in  practice  was  generally  sufficient, 
was  for  a  youth  to  enter  a  trade  young  and  remain  in  the 
same  groove  all  his  life. 

This  was  convenient,  but  it  did  not  conduce  to  bring  out 
what  a  man  had  in  him.  It  created  an  artisan  class  which 
was  doomed  to  mediocrity,  from  the  lack  of  anything  to  call 
for  manly  effort. 

All  this  is  changed.  The  workman  no  longer  finds  his 
trade  a  protection  against  unemployment,  that  is  to  say,  against 
the  most  acute  form  of  the  Labour  Question,  and  the  most 
formidable  crisis  which  can  affect  him.  He  must  learn  to 
protect  himself.  At  the  same  time  a  far  wider  field  is  open- 
ing before  him,  so  that  the  development  of  his  personality  may 
lead  him  further  and  higher. 

Whether  he  is  content  to  remain  a  workman  or  whether 
his  ambition  and  his  abilities  push  him  towards  a  position  of 
authority,  the  essential  thing  is  that  he  should  rely  chiefly  on 
what  he  is  in  himself.  He  must  be  capable  of  bettering  him- 
self, of  getting  on,  and  of  acting  for  himself.  Nothing  can  take 
the  place  of  these  indispensable  requirements. 

It  remains  to  be  seen  what  facilities  an  English  workman 
finds  in  his  environment  for  the  acquisition  of  these  indispens- 
able qualities. 

As  a  practical  conclusion  to  a  series  of  observations  which 
have  shown  that  the  true  solution  of  the  Labour  Question  is 
the  elevation  of  the  worker,  a  word  must  be  said  as  to  how 
the  worker  can  raise  himself  and  how  far  he  has  already 
done  so. 

Four  different  sets  of  influences  tending  to  this  end  are  at 
work,  and  the  means  of  elevation  within  the  reach  of  the 
worker  may  be  classified  under  the  following  heads : — 


366  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

1.  Means  of  elevation  due  to  the  evolution  of  commerce 

and  industry. 

2.  Means  of  elevation  due  to  the  private  initiative  of  the 

directing  classes. 

3.  Means  of  elevation  due  to  legislative  interference. 

4.  Means  of  elevation  due  to  the  English  character. 


I.  Means  of  Elevation  due  to  the  Evolution  of  Commerce 
and  Industry. 

The  evolution  of  commerce  and  industry  has  furnished  the 
worker  with  direct  means  of  elevation,  and  has  improved  his 
position  generally,  by  paying  higher  wages,  multiplying  the 
chances  of  employment,  and  creating  a  large  number  of  new 
factories,  often  under  the  direction  of  an  ex-workman.  Our 
examination  of  the  social  condition  of  the  workers  under  the 
factory  system  has  brought  these  points  into  prominence  and 
it  is  not  necessary  to  return  to  them.1 

But  this  evolution  has  brought  about  another  result.  The 
destruction  of  the  greater  number  of  small  workshops  has 
deprived  the  artisans  of  their  proprietary  rights  in  their  trade, 
and  of  the  control  of  their  labour,  which  they  possessed  under 
the  old  system.  At  the  same  time  it  has  grouped  them  in 

1  I  should  like  to  point  out  that  this  result,  which  is  often  overlooked,  has 
not  escaped  clear-sighted  and  fair  observers  who  have  studied  the  question  without 
bias  or  prejudice.  As  an  example  I  may  cite  the  work  published  in  1869  by 
the  Comte  de  Paris,  entitled  Les  Associations  ouvrieres  en  Angleterre.  At  a 
time  when  the  effects  of  this  evolution  were  more  difficult  to  trace  than  they 
are  to-day  the  author  expressed  himself  to  the  following  effect : — "The  extreme 
division  of  labour  which  is  often  a  necessary  consequence  of  our  modern  in- 
dustrial system  would  be  most  inimical  to  the  intellectual  progress  of  our  time 
if  it  co-existed  with  the  old  traditions  which  confined  an  individual,  or  genera- 
tion after  generation  of  a  family,  to  the  same  special  branch.  Machinery,  how- 
ever, by  diminishing  the  workman's  labour  and  rendering  less  and  less  necessary 
the  long  apprenticeship  which  was  needed  under  the  old  system  in  order  to 
acquire  a  special  knack,  no  longer  confines  the  worker  within  the  same  narrow 
limits  as  did  his  hardly  acquired  manual  skill,  but  is  opening  wider  and  more 
varied  fields  to  the  exercise  of  his  intelligence.  The  case  of  the  United  States 
proves  that  this  mobility,  far  from  impeding  the  industrial  development  of  a 
nation,  increases  its  capabilities.  It  makes  men,  instead  of  living  machines,  and 
prepares  them  for  citizenship,  and  by  throwing  down  useless  and  antiquated 
barriers  it  opens  a  vast  career  to  individual  initiative  and  energy "  (Les  As- 
sociations ouvrieres  en  Angleterre,  par  M.  le  Comte  de  Paris.  Edition  Germer- 
Bailliere,  1869,  pp.  215,  216). 


CHAP,  iv  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  367 

large  numbers  in  great  factories,  and  has  enabled  them  to  com- 
bine and  thus  acquire  a  new  power.  From  this  has  sprung 
the  great  modern  movement  known  as  Trade  Unionism. 

We  have  seen  what  the  workers  under  the  factory  system 
have  gained  in  the  way  of  regular  wages,  reduction  of  the 
hours  of  labour,  etc.,  from  the  formation  of  Unions.  These  in 
themselves  are  important  advantages,  but  the  development  of 
Trade  Unionism  has  also  given  a  marvellous  impulse  to  all  the 
other  forms  of  associated  action,  and  has  contributed  in  the 
most  powerful  manner  to  the  personal  elevation  of  the  working 
class. 

All  Trade  Unions,  however,  have  not  exercised  an  equally 
beneficial  influence  in  this  direction.  Those  which  endeavour 
to  resist  the  progress  of  evolution,  to  maintain  by  artificial 
means  an  antiquated  condition  of  things,  and  to  restrict 
admission  into  a  trade  when  circumstances  have  thrown 
it  open,  are  leading  the  artisan  into  a  wrong  path.  No 
doubt  they  develop  certain  qualities  by  accustoming  him 
to  manage  men,  but  they  close  the  future  to  him,  and  thus 
their  line  of  policy  is  at  once  dangerous  and  precarious.  Those, 
on  the  contrary,  which  strive  to  organise  the  evolution  of  in- 
dustry instead  of  resisting  it,  which  resolutely  face  the  present 
and  aim  at  fitting  themselves  for  the  future,  offer  the  double 
advantage  of  training  the  workers  to  associated  action  and  of 
turning  their  energies  in  the  direction  in  which  they  will 
bear  fruit. 

I  have  already  introduced  to  my  readers  several  of  the 
officials  of  different  Trade  Unions,  men  remarkable  for  good 
sense,  moderation,  and  a  practical  turn  of  mind.  I  have  not 
disguised  the  fact  that  some  of  them  cherish  illusions,  but  the 
general  impression  left  is  that  of  men  of  upright  and  manly 
character.  They  are  really  men. 

It  is  often  surprising,  in  reading  reports  furnished  by 
ordinary  workmen  to  their  Union,  to  see  what  questions  these 
reports  deal  with,  what  interesting  views  they  put  forward, 
and  what  ability  they  denote  on  the  part  of  their  authors. 

Take,  for  example,  a  report  furnished  by  Mr.  W.  J.  Davis, 
general  secretary  of  the  National  Union  of  Brassworkers,  of  a 
visit  paid  to  the  Electrical  Exhibition  at  the  Crystal  Palace  in 
1892.  The  brassworkers  were  alarmed  lest  the  development 


368  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

of  electric  lighting  might  be  prejudicial  to  the  use  of  gas,  and 
consequently  that  the  gas-fittings  manufactured  by  them  would 
no  longer  be  in  demand.  Mr.  Davis  was  appointed  to  in- 
vestigate the  following  questions  : — 

1.  Is  electricity  likely  to  supersede  gas  ? 

2.  In  that   case  would  the  fittings   required  for   electric 
lighting  be  made  of  the  same  materials  as  gas-fittings  ? 

3.  "Would  they  come  into  the  brass  workers'  line  ? 

4.  Would  the  manufacture  of  these  fittings  require  more 
or  less  labour  than  those  at  present  in  use  ? 

5.  Would  the  number  of  lights  be  increased  or  diminished  ? 
The  general   sense  of  the  report  was   to  the  effect  that 

electric  lighting  would  have  a  favourable  effect  upon  the  brass 
trade,  but  each  of  the  questions  was  examined  and  discussed, 
if  necessary,  in  the  most  careful  and  intelligent  manner,  and 
it  is  difficult  to  say  which  was  the  more  remarkable,  the  artisan 
who  could  treat  this  complicated  question  in  such  a  luminous 
manner  or  the  men  who  took  steps  to  obtain  his  report. 
Obviously  such  men  are  not  to  be  taken  by  surprise  by  some 
unforeseen  crisis,  for  they  not  only  study  questions  of  supply 
and  demand,  but  are  fully  competent  for  such  a  study. 

The  same  author  has  published  a  substantial  little  pam- 
phlet entitled  A  Short  History  of  the  Brass  Trade,  which  shows 
at  a  glance  the  changes  undergone  by  the  trade,  from  the  time 
of  hammered  brass  to  the  modern  methods  of  working  by  steam 
power,  the  development  of  alloying  processes,  the  different  uses 
of  brass,  etc. 

These  works,  and  many  others  of  the  same  kind,  are  an 
incontestable  proof  of  the  high  intellectual  development  of 
some  Trade  Union  secretaries. 

It  is  not  only  on  the  side  of  pure  intelligence,  however, 
that  Trade  Unions  have  encouraged  progress  among  the  working 
classes.  Their  most  important  result  has  been  to  fit  them 
to  undertake  the  normal  organisation  and  control  of  their 
own  lives. 

Many  other  forms  of  association  have  sprung  from  Trade 
Unions,  and  not  only  prove  how  much  progress  has  already 
been  accomplished,  but  will  be  an  important  element  of 
progress  in  the  future. 

Such  are  the  Building  Societies,  by  which  the  thrift  of  the 


CHAP,  iv  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  369 

working  classes  is  utilised  in  assisting  working  men  to  acquire 
their  own  homes ;  the  innumerable  Friendly  Societies ;  and  the 
Co-operative  Societies,  which  have  now  developed  to  such  an 
enormous  extent.  At  the  Congress  held  in  1893  at  Bristol, 
1655  Co-operative  Societies  were  represented,  and  we  have 
already  seen  how  greatly  they  benefit  the  working  classes, 
especially  in  small  towns.  All  this  is  due  to  the  initiative 
and  energy  of  ordinary  workmen,  and  is  the  fruit  of  their 
personal  administration.  I  visited  the  secretary  and  treasurer 

of  a  local  Co-operative  Society  at  D .     He  was  a  little, 

thin,  dry  man,  very  exact  in  his  accounts,  a  little  faddy,  I  was 
told,  but  the  real  pillar  of  the  institution.  He  had  been  a 
weaver  and  then  a  postman,  and  he  now  manages  the  accounts 
of  all  the  various  branches  belonging  to  the  Society,  the 
butcher's,  the  baker's,  the  grocery  department,  the  boot  and 
clothing  branches,  etc. 

The  success  of  Co-operative  Societies  does  great  honour  to 
those  who  are  at  the  head  of  them  and  form  their  mainspring. 
But  the  principle  of  co-operation  is  not  sufficient  in  itself  to 
secure  the  prosperity  of  enterprises  conducted  on  that  basis 
without  the  intelligent  activity,  the  honesty  and  ability  of 
those  who  wish  to  put  the  principle  into  operation.  In  many 
large  towns,  and  especially  in  London,  Co-operative  Stores  suffer 
severely  from  the  competition  of  retail  dealers.  This  is  not 
surprising,  for  although  Co-operative  Societies  have  conferred  a 
benefit  of  the  highest  order  on  their  customers  by  checking  the 
exploitation  of  the  consumer  by  the  retail  dealer,  yet  after  this 
has  been  done  and  dealers  have  taken  the  lesson  to  heart  and 
contented  themselves  with  a  small  profit,  they  have  an  advantage 
over  the  Co-operative  Societies,  inasmuch  as  they  are  spurred 
by  self-interest  and  have  complete  freedom  of  prompt  decision 
and  action.  This  is  one  more  proof  that  systems  are  but 
secondary  matters  and  that  personal  force  is  the  first  essential  of 
success.  English  Co-operative  Societies  have  been  successful 
because  the  English  race  has  a  genius  for  carrying  private 
enterprises  to  a  successful  issue.  To-morrow,  it  may  be,  it 
will  resort  to  other  means,  for  capable  men  are  never  at  a  loss 
for  a  suitable  system.  A  system  is  a  tool  procured  or  manu- 
factured or  invented  for  the  occasion,  and  laid  aside  when  it 
has  served  its  turn.  Thus  systems  are  less  worthy  of  admira- 

2  B 


370  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PA*T  in 

tion  and  imitation  than  this  method  of  training  men,  which  is 
the  true  secret  of  the  power  of  the  race.  Our  object  in 
drawing  attention  to  the  great  success  of  Co-operative  Societies 
in  England  is  not  to  preach  a  crusade  in  favour  of  co-operation, 
but  to  bring  into  prominence  the  personality  of  the  men  to 
whom  it  is  due,  and  thus  to  give  some  idea  of  what  English 
working  men  have  succeeded  in  achieving. 

We  should  not  omit  to  mention  Athletic  Clubs,  Working 
Men's  Clubs,  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  etc., 
in  enumerating  the  different  forms  assumed  by  the  spirit  of 
association  among  the  English  working  classes.  Trade  Unionism 
gave  a  powerful  impulse  to  this  general  movement,  and  it  is  no 
exaggeration  to  trace  a  connection  between  them. 

Trade  Unionism  has  contributed  to  raise  the  workers  in 
yet  another  way,  by  diminishing  in  an  appreciable  degree  the 
antagonistic  feeling  towards  employers.  Mr.  Burnett,  one  of 
the  heads  of  the  Labour  Department,  in  his  report  on  strikes 
and  unemployment,  published  in  1893,  noted  a  growing 
tendency  among  the  representatives  of  labour  organisations  to 
consider  a  resort  to  arbitration  in  trade  disputes  as  the  normal 
and  desirable  solution.  Such  a  symptom  is  important.  More- 
over the  most  prominent  miners  seem  little  affected  by  the  class 
jealousy  and  the  mania  for  equality  which  is  often  betrayed 
by  the  acts  and  speeches  of  Continental  agitators.  They  are 
gradually  being  initiated  into  the  difficulties  of  industrial 
direction,  by  being  associated  with  their  employers  in  the 
discussion  of  interests  of  great  magnitude  and  in  the  joint 
settlement  of  certain  questions.  Thus  they  are  beginning  to 
understand  the  superior  role  played  by  employers,  to  appre- 
ciate how  much  is  required  of  them,  and  to  recognise  that  it  is 
in  virtue  of  superior  qualities  that  they  are  at  the  head  of  large 
concerns.  They  have  also  found  in  many  employers  a  sincere 
wish  to  improve  the  position  of  the  workers  as  far  as  possible, 
and,  not  infrequently,  these  forced  relations,  due  in  the  first 
instance  to  disagreement,  have  forged  links  of  gratitude  and 
affectionate  esteem. 

There  still  remains  one  last  means  of  elevation  which  Trade 
Unionism  has  put  within  the  reach  of  working  men.  It  does 
not  affect  the  rank  and  file,  indeed,  directly,  it  affects  only  a 
very  few  picked  men,  but  in  a  more  or  less  distant  future  the 


CHAP,  iv  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  371 

working  class  as  a  body  will  be  indirectly  benefited.  We  have 
already  pointed  out  the  results  of  Trade  Unionism  in  the 
modern  organisation  of  labour,  and  in  the  workers'  private  life, 
and  we  have  now  to  see  its  results  on  political  organisation  and 
public  life. 

Twelve  labour  members  sat  in  the  last  House  of  Commons, 
representing  the  working-class  vote.  Conspicuous  among  them 
were  Mr.  Thomas  Burt,  an  ex-miner,  Parliamentary  secretary  of 
the  Board  of  Trade,  Mr.  Woods,  Mr.  Pickard,  president  of  the 
National  Federation,  Messrs.  Wilson  and  Fenwick,  representing 
Durham  and  Northumberland  and  strong  opponents  of  legislative 
intervention  in  the  matter  of  an  eight  hours  day,  all  miners ; 
Mr.  John  Burns,  of  the  Amalgamated  Union  of  Engineers ;  Mr. 
J.  H.  Wilson,  founder  of  the  Sailors'  Union,  who  began  life  as 
a  cabin  boy  on  a  coaling  vessel ;  and  Mr.  Keir  Hardie,  the 
fiery  moving  spirit  of  the  Independent  Labour  Party,  who 
began  life  as  a  miner,  but  now  represents  the  general  labourer. 

These  members  had  been  working  men  in  the  strictest 
sense  of  the  term,  and  yet  they  occupied  an  honourable  position 
in  the  esteem  of  their  colleagues  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
They  cannot  be  said  to  have  forced  themselves  upon  this  august 
body,  but  they  made  a  place  for  themselves.  There  could  be 
no  better  proof  that  their  elevation  was  normal  and  real  and 
not  the  outcome  of  a  sudden  revolutionary  movement,  which 
introduced  the  triumphant  passions  of  the  populace  into  the 
legislative  assembly.  They  were  the  political  representatives 
of  the  modern  organisation  of  labour  and  of  its  offspring,  Trade 
Unionism.  Each  phase  of  evolution  prepared  the  way  for  the 
next,  and  gave  rise  to  a  process  of  selection  among  working 
men  as  a  body,  by  constantly  bringing  to  the  front  new  groups 
of  more  and  more  capable  and  picked  men  as  new  necessities 
arose.  At  last  when  the  day  came  for  them  to  penetrate  to 
the  House  of  Commons  they  proved  their  fitness  for  their 
new  rola 

Their  presence  there  was  not  less  significant  from  another 
point  of  view.  It  not  only  proved  that  the  working  classes  of 
to-day  are  qualified  to  pick  out  and  train  a  certain  number  of 
men  of  commanding  abilities,  but  it  also  marked  the  introduc- 
tion of  a  new  element  into  the  representation  of  the  country. 
The  interests  of  labour  have  now  come  upon  the  scene. 


372  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  m 

Under  the  old  industrial  system  these  interests  differed 
little  from  those  of  the  employers.  The  head  of  a  small  work- 
shop generally  worked  there  himself,  and  many  of  his  men 
aimed  at  becoming  small  employers  themselves,  nor  were  the 
qualities  requisite  to  achieve  this  legitimate  end  of  a  modest 
ambition  rare.  A  trade  could  then  be  adequately  represented 
by  the  heads  of  workshops,  who  were  merely  the  best  workmen 
of  the  trade  in  question. 

Now  it  is  not  so.  The  head  of  a  great  industrial  concern 
has  no  doubt  a  certain  number  of  interests  in  common  with  his 
men,  but  he  has  others  which  are  quite  distinct  from  theirs, 
and  many  of  which,  though  not  really  irreconcilable  if  wisely 
weighed  and  discussed,  appear  so  at  first  sight.  It  is  easy  to 
see,  therefore,  that  the  representation  of  the  employer's  interests 
is  not  enough  for  the  men's  interests.  What  is  called  the 
industrial  and  commercial  interest  does  not  include  the  interest 
of  the  workers.  Questions  are  almost  always  considered  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  employers,  and,  in  an  assembly  of 
employers,  superhuman  virtue  and  disinterestedness  would  be 
required  to  prevent  this.  The  English  Parliament,  which  is 
in  great  part  composed  of  landlords  and  manufacturers,  is 
essentially  an  assembly  of  employers,  and  there  could  be  no 
security  for  the  defence  of  the  separate  interests  of  labour 
created  by  the  modern  evolution  of  industry  unless  the  repre- 
sentatives of  these  interests  found  a  place  there. 

The  representatives  of  these  interests  have  been  trained  in 
the  school  of  labour  organisations  to  calm  discussion  based  on 
precise  facts.  In  the  Trade  Union  Congresses,  Parliamentary 
usages  and  modes  of  procedure  are  jealously  observed.  I  was 
at  the  Belfast  Congress  in  1893,  and  a  regular  attendant  at 
the  sittings.  The  impression  which  I  carried  away  was  one  of 
great  good  sense  on  the  part  of  the  leaders,  sustained  attention 
on  the  part  of  the  members,  and  of  real  competence  on  the 
part  of  the  majority  of  the  speakers.  When  I  came  away  1 
did  not  feel  it  surprising  that  the  men  I  had  just  heard  could 
hold  their  own  at  Westminster. 

The  Trade  Union  Congress  has  often  been  called  the  Labour 
Parliament,  and  this  is  no  idle  compliment,  though  it  may  well 
be  a  prophecy.  The  House  of  Commons  itself  was  originally 
only  the  representative  of  the  interests  of  industry  and  com- 


CHAP,  iv  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  373 

merce  asserting  themselves  against  the  agricultural  interest, 
which  was  then  dominated  by  feudalism.  As  the  agricultural 
interest  freed  itself  from  feudalism,  the  representatives  of  the 
counties  were  added  to  those  of  the  burghs,  and  later  on 
intellectual  labour  also  sent  a  contingent.  This  gave  county 
members,  borough  members,  and  members  for  the  universities. 
This  distinction,  which  has  lasted  until  now,  clearly  proves  that 
the  House  of  Commons  was  only  an  assembly  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  all  branches  of  work  in  which  the  nation  was 
engaged. 

To-day,  one  of  these  branches  has  separated  into  two  dis- 
tinct shoots,  and  why,  if  these  are  capable  of  the  necessary 
organisation,  should  not  each  have  its  own  distinct  representa- 
tion ?  Why  should  not  the  Trade  Union  Congress  become 
in  the  future  the  Labour  Chamber  ?  It  has  already  no  incon- 
siderable political  influence,  and  though  not  one  of  the  powers 
of  the  nation,  it  plays  to  some  extent  the  part  of  those 
secondary  assemblies  in  which  politicians  are  trained  by  the 
management  of  local  affairs. 

Unfortunately,  such  a  prospect  has  somewhat  heated  the 
minds  of  some  labour  leaders,  who  are  in  too  great  a  hurry 
to  wait  for  time  to  do  its  own  work,  and  too  eager  to  give  a 
final  form  to  nascent  institutions.  From  this  has  sprung  the 
very  premature  idea  of  an  Independent  Labour  Party,  of 
which  Mr.  Keir  Hardie  is  the  promoter,  head,  and  chief 
supporter. 

Of  the  twelve  labour  members  in  the  late  Parliament,  ten 
had  accepted  the  support  of  the  Liberals,  another  had  pledged 
himself  to  the  Irish  Nationalists,  and  only  Mr.  Keir  Hardie 
was  elected  for  West  Ham  as  an  independent  candidate. 

It  is  surely  an  extravagant  claim  to  sit  in  a  legislative 
assembly  which  is  called  upon  to  settle  a  series  of  questions 
as  diverse  as  important,  and  to  have  no  political  programme 
beyond  the  narrow  one  of  supporting  the  interests  of  labour. 
It  is  intelligible  that  the  Trade  Unions  might  wish  to  have  a 
certain  number  of  representatives  in  Parliament,  but  not  that 
a  constituency  composed  of  varied  elements  should  eliminate 
from  its  political  calculation  everything  not  concerned  with 
the  interests  of  labour. 

The  Independent  Labour  Party  also  errs  in  another  direc- 


374  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

tion,  for  it  is  no  stranger  to  class  antagonism,  and  the  spirit 
which  animates  its  leader  is  not  conciliatory.  These  are  not 
the  conditions  of  success.  If  ever  such  a  party  is  to  achieve 
its  purpose,  it  must  be  by  means  analogous  to  those  which 
have  led  the  present  members  to  the  House  of  Commons,  and 
not  by  ill-timed  declarations  of  war. 

Nor  is  it  necessary  to  overthrow  the  existing  state  of 
things  in  order  to  establish  a  new  society  on  its  ruins.  The 
working  men  who  are  already  engaged  in  organising  the 
representation  of  their  interests  within  the  walls  of  the 
House  of  Commons  have  come  there  by  natural  causes  and 
without  revolutions.  The  interests  they  represent  have  their 
place  in  the  political  life  of  the  time,  and  they  will  occupy  a 
greater  place,  as  stronger,  wiser,  and  more  experienced  Unions 
turn  out  more  men  fitted  to  take  a  share  in  the  government 
of  the  country. 

In  conclusion,  we  may  say  that  the  Trade  Union  move- 
ment has  contributed  to  the  elevation  of  the  working  classes 
in  two  ways.  In  the  first  place,  it  has  brought  to  light  an 
aristocracy  of  leaders  who  would  otherwise  have  been  lost 
amid  the  crowd.  In  the  second  place,  it  has  given  to  the 
working  classes  an  indirect  though  evident  share  in  the  con- 
trol of  public  affairs. 

II.  Means  of  Elevation  furnislied  In/  the  Private  Initiative  of 
the  Directing  Classes. 

The  elevation  of  capable  workmen  has  been  furthered  in 
the  present  century  by  the  active  good-will  of  their  employers. 
Those  who  are  anxious  to  climb  the  social  ladder  find  hands 
outstretched,  not  merely  to  welcome  them,  but  also  to  help 
them  upwards. 

There  is  a  great  difference  in  this  respect  between  the 
general  feeling  of  the  wealthy  classes  in  France  and  in  Eng- 
land. In  France  there  is  a  general  readiness  to  help  others. 
Misfortune,  however  well  deserved,  awakens  sentiments  of 
pity.  The  incapable  are  saved  from  starvation,  but  there  is 
a  lack  of  vigorous  efforts  to  reduce  their  number.  In  Eng- 
land the  incapable  and  destitute  are  more  harshly  treated. 
Poor  laws  had  to  be  organised  in  this  country  long  before  the 


CHAP,  iv  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  375 

necessity  for  such  legislation  was  recognised  in  other  European 
countries,  because  of  the  insufficiency  of  private  charity.  On 
the  other  hand,  private  initiative  is  always  ready  to  second 
any  vigorous  effort,  and  to  assist  the  capable  to  rise. 

The  same  difference  may  be  observed  in  the  education  of 
children.  French  parents  are  extremely  solicitous  for  their 
children :  they  work  for  them,  save  for  them,  stint  them- 
selves for  them,  and  endeavour  to  make  life  pleasant  and  easy 
for  them.  All  that  is  expected  in  return  is  docility,  and 
parents  find  it  hard  to  treat  their  children  as  men,  and  would 
fain  keep  them  children.  Many  a  French  mother  is  incon- 
solable when  her  children  grow  up  and  she  loses  them.  In 
England  the  chief  aim  is  to  accustom  children  to  life  as  they 
will  find  it  later.  Education  is  an  armed  vigil,  undertaken 
in  preparation  for  the  conflicts  of  life,  and  as  soon  as  children 
are  strong  enough  to  fight  for  themselves  the  parents'  task  is 
finished.  English  parents  do  indeed  bring  up  their  children, 
they  bring  them  up  to  the  capacity  of  grown  men.  The  idea 
of  keeping  them  children  by  artificial  means  would  be  directly 
contrary  to  English  notions  of  education.  French  parents  aim 
at  making  good  children,  and  spare  no  devotion  or  solicitude 
to  attain  this  end.  English  parents  possibly  make  fewer  sacri- 
fices, but  their  ideal  is  an  enlightened  one,  and  their  affection, 
if  undemonstrative,  aims  at  the  real  good  of  their  children, 
and  at  making  men  of  them. 

Workmen  are  treated  in  the  same  way.  The  object  is 
not  to  make  good  workmen,  who  will  remain  workmen,  but  to 
educate  them  into  capable  and  independent  men,  and  to 
develop  them  by  all  possible  means,  without  asking  what  will 
be  the  immediate  result  of  such  development.  It  is  felt  that 
the  more  enlightened  they  become,  both  intellectually  and 
morally,  the  more  capable  will  they  become,  and  that  the 
greater  their  individual  worth  the  fewer  dangers  will  the 
Labour  Question  present. 

In  such  a  conception  there  is  not  only  a  certain  elevation, 
but  also  a  very  clear  understanding  of  the  times  in  which  we 
live.  The  workman  is  more  than  ever  responsible  for  himself, 
now  that  the  modern  organisation  of  industry  has  broken 
down  the  old  framework  and  artificial  protective  measures 
are  no  longer  of  any  avail.  Nothing  can  supply  the  place  of 


376  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

capability  on  his  part,  and  therefore  everything  should  be  done 
to  urge  him  to  render  himself  capable. 

Various  institutions  are  inspired  by  this  ideal,  and  aim  at 
realising  it  in  different  ways. 

A  lady,  whose  acquaintance  I  made  at  Birmingham  at  the 
house  of  a  friend,  offered  to  take  me  to  a  voluntary  night 
school  in  which  she  was  interested.  I  accepted  her  offer,  and 
at  half-past  eight  the  following  evening  I  found  myself  in  a 
schoolroom  belonging  to  one  of  the  churches.  Instead  of  the 
regular  pupils  I  found  about  250  men,  all  over  twenty-one 
and  some  of  them  gray-haired.  They  were  engaged  in  the 
most  elementary  studies,  some  spelling,  others  making  pot- 
hooks with  shaky  hands  which  were  more  accustomed  to 
handle  heavy  tools  than  to  manage  the  light  penholder  which 
slipped  about  between  their  fingers.  The  more  advanced  were 
doing  dictation  and  sums.  The  teachers  were  six  young 
ladies,  who  accomplished  their  task  quite  simply,  and  did 
their  best  to  assist  the  well-meant  but  inexperienced  efforts 
of  their  scholars,  hearing  the  beginners  read,  correcting  the 
orthography  of  the  more  advanced,  and  encouraging  all. 
Mutual  instruction  is  of  course  largely  practised,  especially 
in  the  case  of  the  beginners,  who  find  it  easy  to  get  spelling 
heard  by  those  who  need  practice  in  reading. 

At  half-past  nine  came  prayers,  followed  by  a  hymn,  and 
then  the  party  separated  with  a  hearty  grasp  of  the  hand. 
This  was  the  time  for  questioning  the  ladies  in  charge  of  the 
work.  One  of  them  called  my  attention  to  a  collecting-box 
at  the  door,  into  which  most  of  the  men  dropped  a  penny  or 
half-penny.  "  That  is  for  lighting,"  she  explained,  "  they  like 
to  do  something  for  themselves  and  to  be  independent.  Last 
Friday  about  270  came,  and  we  found  8s.  6d.  in  the  box. 
They  are  glad  to  accept  the  hospitality  of  the  parish  school- 
room and  our  help,  but  it  raises  them  in  their  own  eyes  to 
pay  for  the  gas  which  they  burn."  I  can  testify  that  they 
are  glad  to  prove  their  gratitude  in  a  more  tangible  way. 
One  of  the  ladies  present  was  leaving  Birmingham,  and  on 
the  evening  of  my  visit  her  pupils  presented  her  with  an 
enormous  inkstand.  The  inkstand  was  hideous,  but  the  in- 
tention was  good. 

The   relations    between    teachers    and    scholars    are    not 


CHAP,  iv  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  377 

entirely  scholastic.  At  Christmas  there  is  a  tea,  to  which  the 
men  are  invited  to  bring  their  wives  and  sweethearts,  and  a 
pleasant  evening  is  spent  without  copybooks  or  readers.  At 
one  time  cups,  plates,  teapots,  etc.,  used  to  be  hired  for  the 
Christmas  tea,  but  this  plan  was  expensive  and  stiff  and  not 
homely  enough.  The  men  resolved  to  remedy  this,  and  col- 
lected for  some  months  until  they  had  enough  to  provide 
what  was  required  for  these  modest  entertainments,  and  they 
now  enjoy  their  tea  all  the  better. 

From  a  scholastic  point  of  view,  the  results  are  not  to 
be  despised.  Men  were  pointed  out  to  me  who  had  been 
there  every  Friday  for  the  last  four,  seven,  and  even  nine 
years,  and  who,  though  completely  ignorant  when  they  started, 
were  now  able  to  write  a  good  hand  as  well  as  to  read  and 
cypher.  In  a  small  adjoining  room  I  saw  the  advanced  class, 
which  consisted  of  about  twenty  men,  who  were  watching  one 
of  their  number  work  a  problem  on  the  blackboard.  Among 
the  members  were  a  postman,  a  blacksmith,  and  two  brass- 
founders,  who  all  had  some  education,  but  were  anxious  to 
improve  themselves.  The  postman  told  me  he  was  working 
to  obtain  a  better  position  in  the  post-office. 

It  cannot  be  supposed  that  the  ladies  who  leave  a  com- 
fortable home,  and  give  up  an  evening  to  teaching  these  men 
to  read,  write,  and  count,  are  actuated  by  anything  but  dis- 
interested motives.  In  a  town  like  Birmingham,  which  con- 
sists of  more  than  500,000  inhabitants,  they  cannot  expect 
anything  from  the  gratitude  of  their  pupils.  When  the  latter 
are  in  a  position  to  profit  by  what  they  have  learned,  they 
will  forsake  the  night  school,  but  they  will  have  acquired  a 
means  of  elevation  which  will  be  of  use  to  them,  and  they 
will  remember  that  in  the  wealthy  classes  there  are  persons 
ready  to  rejoice  at  their  success.  This  is  a  great  preservative 
against  class  antagonism. 

The  example  just  given  is  not  an  isolated  one.  A  Birming- 
ham barrister  told  me  of  his  interest  in  an  early  Sunday  School, 
where  much  the  same  work  is  done  as  in  the  voluntary  night 
schools,  and  expressed  his  gratification  at  the  results  obtained. 
He  told  me  that  to  his  own  knowledge  many  a  man  had  got 
his  first  education  at  this  school,  having  never  had  any  other 
within  his  reach,  and  had  done  well  in  after  life.  He  men- 


378  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  HI 

tioned  the  case  of  an  ex-mayor  of  Birmingham,  who  had  begun 
life  as  a  working  man  and  learned  to  read  in  the  early  Sunday 
School.  There  too  the  relations  between  teachers  and  pupils 
are  not  purely  scholastic.  A  rich  Quaker  who  teaches  in  the 
school,  has  acted  as  sleeping  partner  to  fourteen  pupils  in 
turn,  in  order  to  help  them  to  start  business  for  themselves, 
and  says  he  has  never  lost  a  penny.  Such  a  case  is  clear 
evidence  of  the  desire  to  help  capable  men  to  rise,  and  of  the 
power  to  discover  them. 

Every  one  has  heard  of  the  University  Extension  Move- 
ment, under  whose  auspices  lectures  and  courses  are  delivered 
by  young  University  men  to  working-class  audiences  in  populous 
centres.  There,  of  course,  there  is  no  intention  of  supplying 
elementary  knowledge  of  a  useful  kind.  The  end  in  view, 
though  less  immediately  practical,  is  inspired  by  an  ideal  which 
is  at  once  just  and  comprehensive.  It  is  to  open  the  minds  of 
men  who  are  absorbed  in  their  day's  toil  to  the  beauties  of 
literature  and  art,  to  give  them  a  taste  for  intellectual  plea- 
sures, to  make  a  break  in  the  monotony  of  a  dull  life,  and 
to  procure  them  healthy  enjoyments.  At  the  same  time,  the 
young  lecturers  engaged  in  the  work  learn  to  understand  a 
class  from  whom  they  are  separated  by  their  mode  of  life  and 
education,  so  that  University  Extension,  which  began  in  an  out- 
burst of  generous  feeling,  has  had  two  beneficial  results.  Both 
teachers  and  pupils  have  learned  something ;  the  former  have 
found  that  the  working  man  possesses  latent  intellectual  abilities, 
while  the  latter  have  had  the  veil  lifted,  which  hid  the  treasures  of 
thought  from  their  eyes.  Such  contact  has  led  to  mutual  esteem 
and  confidence.  From  this  movement  has  sprung  Toynbee 
Hall,  a  link  between  the  notorious  quarter  of  Whitechapel  and 
the  flower  of  the  intellectual  youth  of  the  country,  and  a  school 
which  has  trained  many  of  the  younger  experts  who  have 
devoted  their  time  and  talents  to  sounding  the  problems  affect- 
ing the  labouring  classes,  as  colleagues  of  Mr.  Charles  Booth, 
members  of  the  Labour  Commission,  etc.  These  apostles  are 
eager  to  spread  the  work  in  which  they  are  engaged.  It  is 
not  so  very  long  since  Mr.  Geoffrey  Drage,  secretary  to  the 
Labour  Commission,  delivered  a  lecture  to  the  Eton  boys, 
entitled  "  Eton  and  the  Labour  Question."  Addressing  the  boys 
on  whom  rest  the  hopes  of  the  English  aristocracy,  he  urged 


CHAP,  iv  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  379 

them  to  swell  the  ranks  of  the  University  Extension  Movement 
in  due  course,  reminding  them  that  it  was  impossible  to  sway 
the  destinies  of  a  people  without  some  knowledge  of  it,  and 
that  they  could  never  know  the  people  aright  unless  they  had 
felt  something  of  the  active  sympathy  which  springs  from 
personal  contact.  Speaking  with  the  double  authority  of  an 
old  Etonian  and  a  man  of  the  world,  he  told  them  that 
their  education  would  be  very  incomplete  if  they  remained  in 
ignorance  of  the  lives  of  the  majority  of  their  fellow-country- 
men, and  that  they  would  be  incapable  of  understanding  the 
part  they  would  be  called  upon  to  play  and  but  ill  prepared  to 
play  it  well.  Before  this  exclusive  audience  he  lauded  the  fine 
qualities  he  had  met  with  among  the  working  classes,  he  ex- 
plained and  condoned  the  attitude  of  revolt  assumed  by  certain 
sections,  and  strove  to  dissipate  the  misunderstandings  on  which 
so  many  social  prejudices  are  based. 

Nor  does  the  action  of  the  directing  classes  aim  only  at  the 
intellectual  development  of  the  workers ;  it  also  considers  their 
moral  development  and  their  physical  well-being.  It  is  unneces- 
sary to  quote  examples,  such  as  temperance  societies,  workmen's 
clubs  founded  by  private  individuals,  like  the  People's  Palace, 
refuges,  free  libraries,  and  private  parks  thrown  open  to  the 
public.  Instead  of  attempting  to  give  a  list  which  would  be 
tedious  without  being  exhaustive,  let  us  rather  examine  the 
working  of  one  such  institution.  We  shall  find  the  same 
salient  characteristic  as  in  all  the  others,  a  desire  to  raise  the 
unfortunate  to  a  higher  level  rather  than  to  help  them  to  bear 
their  misfortunes. 

One  of  the  most  important  of  social  questions  concerns  the 
housing  of  the  working  classes.  At  Glasgow  it  presents  itself 
in  a  very  acute  form,  and  the  reason  has  already  been  pointed 
out.  The  working-class  families  are  of  Irish,  Highland,  or 
Lowland  origin,  with  habits  of  overcrowding  which  dispose 
them  to  put  up  with  unhealthy  places  of  abode.  The  high 
value  of  land  makes  its  influence  felt  in  the  same  direction, 
and  unemployment,  low  wages,  and  the  negligence  of  landlords 
do  the  rest.1  The  municipality  of  Glasgow  has  been  forced  to 

1  Cholera  seems  to  have  a  special  affection  for  Glasgow,  and  the  fact  will  not 
surprise  any  one  who  has  sailed  down  the  fetid  estuary  of  the  Clyde  or  visited 
the  poorer  quarters. 


380  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  HI 

check  the  growing  proportions  of  this  evil,  and  about  twenty- 
five  years  ago  began  to  condemn  certain  properties  and  to 
purchase  and  demolish  them.  At  the  present  time,  rightly 
judging  that  such  a  proceeding  would  be  ruinous,  and  that 
landlords  have  had  sufficient  warning,  it  now  orders  negligent 
landlords  to  put  their  property  into  proper  repair  or  not  to 
let  it 

But  these  police  regulations,  though  justifiable,  can  produce 
only  a  negative  effect.  The  recognition  of  this  truth  has  led  a 
society  of  practical  philanthropists,  known  as  the  "  Workmen's 
Dwellings  Company,  Limited,"  to  attack  the  problem  from  the 
practical  side,  and  to  offer  decent  houses  to  the  poorer  sections 
of  the  working  class. 

The  Workmen's  Dwellings  Company  has  all  the  appear- 
ance of  a  financial  speculation,  and  it  is  so  in  a  sense,  with 
the  proviso  that,  after  paying  a  dividend  of  5  per  cent,  any 
surplus  profit  shall  be  devoted  to  philanthropic  purposes.  The 
Secretary  explained  the  aims  and  objects  of  the  Company  to 
me  in  a  few  words.  "  We  believe  it  is  possible  for  the  working 
classes  of  Glasgow  to  be  decently  lodged,  even  the  poorest  of 
them.  We  also  think  that  it  ought  to  pay,  and  we  have 
proved  that  it  can  be  made  to  do  so.  Our  Company  is  con- 
ducted on  strict  business  principles,  and  no  indulgence  is 
shown  to  tenants  who  fail  to  pay,  as  we  consider  we  should 
be  doing  them  but  a  poor  service  if  we  let  them  run  into  debt. 
We  incur  no  expense  from  which  we  can  expect  no  return, 
because  in  that  case  our  example  would  prove  nothing.  Now 
let  us  take  a  cab  and  go  over  to  Cathedral  Court." 

Cathedral  Court  was  the  Company's  first  experiment.  It 
consists  of  two  new  blocks  of  buildings  facing  each  other,  with 
a  large  court  between.  The  third  side  is  formed  by  adjoining 
buildings,  and  the  fourth  is  open  to  allow  of  the  free  admission 
of  air.  "We  bought  the  land  at  £1 :  6s.  per  square  yard," 
said  the  Secretary,  "  and  it  was  too  dear,  so  that  we  only  make 
3  per  cent  on  Cathedral  Court.  To  make  5  per  cent  we  ought 
not  to  have  given  more  than  £1  per  square  yard ;  but,  as  I 
told  you,  we  began  in  Cathedral  Court,  and  we  had  to  buy  our 
experience." 

Both  blocks  are  alike.  There  is  a  stone  staircase  at  the 
end  nearest  to  the  unenclosed  side  of  the  court,  which  com- 


CHAP,  iv  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  381 

municates  with  the  outside  air  on  each  landing  by  means  of 
a  large  opening  with  iron  railings,  a  system  which,  though 
sanitary,  is  bitterly  cold  in  winter.  Each  flat  communicates 
with  the  staircase  by  a  passage.  The  designer  evidently  in- 
tended to  wage  war  against  microbes,  and  to  admit  the  piercing 
wind  of  the  north  to  the  inhabitants'  very  doors.  On  the  top 
floor  there  is  a  large  wash-house  common  to  all  the  tenants, 
and  there  is  an  abundant  supply  of  water  wherever  it  is 
wanted.1 

We  visited  several  families  in  Cathedral  Court.  One 
family,  where  there  were  two  children  and  the  wife  was  still 
young,  had  only  15s.  a  week,  and  paid  9s.  a  month  rent. 
Next  door  lived  a  plasterer,  earning  from  25s.  to  30s.  a  week, 
and  paying  the  same  rent.  Like  the  last  family  he  was  con- 
tent with  a  one-roomed  house,  but  there  were  only  his  wife 
and  himself.  I  learned  from  the  Secretary  that  the  average 
wage  of  families  living  in  the  Court  is  23s.  a  week,  including 
what  the  children  earn.  This  is  not  much,  but  it  must  be 
remembered  that  some  of  the  families  have  only  15s.  or  18s.  a 
week.  All  the  rooms  were  well  kept,  although  our  selections 
were  guided  by  chance.  The  population  of  the  Court  is  poor, 
but  steady  and  respectable. 

There  are  no  rooms  to  let,  and  the  caretaker  has  a  large 
number  of  applications,  so  that  a  vacancy  is  immediately  filled. 
I  glanced  over  the  list  of  applications,  each  of  which  must  be 
accompanied  by  references  and  certain  information.  I  saw  one 
from  two  sisters,  each  earning  12s.  a  week,  who  wished  to  live 
together.  An  umbrella-coverer  stated  that  she  earned  only  8s. 
a  week.  A  metal-worker  earned  22s.  a  week,  and  was  willing 
to  pay  9s.  a  month  rent.  The  tenants  are  drawn,  not  from 
among  the  well-paid  workers  earning  from  30s.  to  40s.  a  week, 
but  from  among  those  who  cannot  afford  to  pay  a  high  rent 
and  yet  wish  to  get  out  of  the  holes  in  which  they  have  to  live. 
Applications  are  refused  from  those  whose  wages  are  sufficiently 
high  to  allow  them  to  get  proper  accommodation  elsewhere. 
The  Company  hopes  to  make  its  property  a  step  ladder,  and  to 

1  The  weekly  rent  varies  from  Is.  7£d.  to  2s.  3d.  a  week  for  one  room,  and 
from  2s.  4^d.  to  3s.  for  two  rooms.  The  average  rent  is  2s.  for  a  single  room, 
and  2s.  Sd.  for  two  rooms.  (Report  of  the  Directors  to  the  Fifth  Ordinary  General 
Meeting  of  Shareholders,  29th  August  1894.) 


3«2  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  HI 

enable  workers  to  rise  step  by  step  to  a  comfortable  home. 
The  large  number  of  applications  proves  the  need  for  its  exist- 
ence, and  shows  that  it  has  met  an  existing  and  clearly-felt 
want. 

In  George  Court  the  Company  has  not  put  up  new  build- 
ings, but  has  contented  itself  by  putting  a  nest  of  old  houses 
into  good  repair  as  far  as  possible.  Light  and  air  have  been 
admitted  by  the  demolition  of  some  of  the  buildings,  water  and 
gas  have  been  put  in,  and  though  the  result  is  not  so  good  as 
in  Cathedral  Court,  yet  the  working  classes  get  good  houses, 
and  the  Company  makes  5^-  per  cent,  which  helps  to  com- 
pensate in  some  measure  for  the  3  per  cent  which  is  all  that 
Cathedral  Court  produces. 

To  understand  how  much  has  been  done,  the  houses  near 
George  Court  must  be  visited.  We  went  into  one  quite  near, 
and  our  choice  was  an  admirable  one.  It  was  a  single  room 
on  the  ground  floor,  and  the  floor  consisted  of  great  stones  and 
holes  alternately.  It  was  occupied  by  a  man  and  five  women, 
and  contained  no  bed  or  furniture  of  any  kind.  There  were 
no  panes  in  the  window,  the  shutters  were  closed  to  keep  out 
the  rain,  and  only  a  little  light  struggled  in  through  the  chinks. 
My  companion  questioned  these  six  persons  sternly,  and  asked 
what  they  were  doing  there,  and  whether  they  had  the  land- 
lord's permission.  We  were  shown  a  book,  which  stated  that 
the  room  was  let  for  6s.  a  month,  and  was  inhabited  by  three 
persons,  as  the  police  regulations  require  a  certain  cubic  space 
for  each  person.  We  were  told  that  three  of  the  women  were 
visitors,  but  they  were  probably  deceiving  us.  The  women 
were  of  the  lowest  class,  filthy,  ragged,  and  insolent. 

As  we  came  away,  the  Secretary  said  to  me,  "  If  landlords 
realised  their  responsibilities,  there  would  be  no  asylum  for 
vice  and  crime  anywhere  in  Glasgow,  and  if  they  understood 
their  own  interests  they  would  build  decent  lodgings,  because, 
as  I  have  told  you,  it  pays  better  than  to  let  such  holes." 

Here  is  an  example  of  a  well-managed  undertaking,  con- 
ducted in  such  a  way  as  to  set  an  example  capable  of  imitation, 
which  is  a  great  matter.  It  is  managed  in  a  practical  manner, 
with  good  sense  and  firmness,  and  it  renders  a  service  of  the 
highest  order  to  respectable  but  poorly-paid  families,  who  are 
enabled  to  escape  from  moral  conditions  of  odious  promiscuity, 


CHAP,  iv  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  383 

and  from  unsanitary  physical  conditions.  Thus  it  is  really 
raising  them,  which  is  a  far  better  thing  to  do  than  to  pay  the 
rent  in  some  case  of  necessity,  though  far  more  difficult.  In 
the  former  case  it  is  enough  to  give  a  little  money ;  in  the 
latter  case  it  is  necessary  to  give  a  part  of  one's  time  and  a 
part  of  oneself.  The  Secretary  often  visits  the  property  owned 
by  the  Company,  which  is  always  in  search  of  new  openings, 
and  which,  while  solving  the  question  of  housing  an  ever  in- 
creasing number  of  families,  is  teaching  a  most  salutary  lesson.1 
It  is  showing  how  useful  services  can  be  rendered  by  those 
willing  to  devote  themselves  to  such  work,  and  it  is  teaching 
landlords  that  it  is  bad  policy  to  neglect  their  duties.  This  is 
very  characteristic  of  English  methods  of  social  effort,  and  I 
have  therefore  dwelt  at  some  length  on  the  Glasgow  Workmen's 
Dwellings  Company.  It  is  an  excellent  example  of  the  means 
of  elevation  put  within  reach  of  the  working  classes  by  the 
governing  classes.2 

"We  can  now  understand  how  the  English  working  class 
has  succeeded  in  rising  socially,  partly  through  the  nature  of 
the  evolution  which  has  aroused  and  focussed  their  efforts,  and 
partly  by  the  assistance  of  those  above  them.  Other  causes, 
however,  have  contributed  to  the  same  end.  The  State  and  the 
municipalities  have,  to  use  a  hackneyed  phrase,  done  a  great 
deal  for  the  working  classes.  What  have  they  really  done  ? 
What  part  have  they  played  in  the  general  upward  movement  ? 
This  is  a  question  of  much  interest  at  a  time  when  Socialistic 
theories  are  in  great  favour. 


III.  Means  of  Elevation  provided  by  the  Piiblic  Aidlwrities. 
The  means  of  elevation  provided  by  the  public  authorities 

1  My  visit  took  place  in  August  1893,  and  the  Company  was  then  building  a 
third  block  on  the  other  side  of  the  Clyde.     In  August  1894  the  Directors' 
Report  stated  that  the  new  block,   Ardgowan   Place,   had   been  occupied   for 
sixteen  weeks. 

2  Some  allusion  should  be  made  to  Miss  Octavia  Hill's  excellent  work  in  the 
same  direction.     Miss  Hill,  with  Mr.  Ruskin's  assistance,  transformed  a  large 
amount  of  property,  and  the  result  has  been  a  dividend  of  4  per  cent  on  the 
capital  laid  out — Le  Logement  de  VOuvrier  et  du  Pauvre,  par  A.  Raffalovich,  pp. 
192  to  201.     (Very  similar  work  is  being  done  in  Edinburgh  by  the  Edinburgh 
Social  Union,  and  elsewhere,  with  similar  results.  —  Trans.) 


384  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

differ  considerably,  notwithstanding  the  outward  similarity  of 
their  form  as  laws  and  regulations. 

The  intervention  of  public  bodies  in  social  questions  is  too 
often  judged  as  a  whole,  and  is  approved  or  condemned  without 
distinction.  It  is  an  easy  method  for  the  partisan,  but  it  errs 
in  including  under  the  same  sweeping  approval  or  condemna- 
tion measures  inspired  by  very  different  motives,  and  producing 
results  of  opposite  nature. 

It  is  therefore  indispensable  to  draw  distinctions,  as  in 
the  case  of  Trade  Unionism,  between  measures  which  tend  to 
facilitate  modern  evolution  and  those  which  endeavour  to  go 
counter  to  it,  between  those  which  organise,  regulate,  and  give 
legal  recognition  to  forces  already  at  work  and  those  which 
obstruct  them. 

English  legislation  affords  many  instances  of  action  which 
would  come  under  the  first  head. 

Let  us  take,  for  example,  the  law  concerning  free  education. 
It  has  done  nothing  more  in  the  Lowlands  of  Scotland,  for  in- 
stance, than  consecrate  a  practice  of  long  standing.  Attention 
has  already  been  called  to  the  development  and  prosperity  of 
the  Scottish  educational  system  under  the  influence  of  Presby- 
terianism.  Elsewhere  it  met  a  recognised  want.  When  we 
find  pupils  whose  ages  range  from  twenty  to  fifty  years  of  age 
ready  to  go  to  evening  schools  after  a  hard  day's  work,  or  to 
give  up  the  forenoon  of  their  only  day  of  rest  in  order  to  learn 
to  read,  as  we  saw  in  Birmingham,  the  need  for  more  universal 
education  is  evidently  making  itself  felt.  The  reason  is  not 
far  to  seek.  A  factory  operative  often  finds  himself  at  a  dis- 
advantage if  he  cannot  read  directions  or  cautions,  and  he  also 
needs  to  keep  in  touch  with  what  is  going  on  in  the  world 
in  order  to  betake  himself  to  another  town  or  to  a  different 
industry,  if  he  is  either  dismissed  from  his  own  factory  or  sees 
a  chance  of  doing  better  elsewhere.  His  lack  of  an  elementary 
education  is  therefore  a  drawback  to  him.  This  is  the  general 
opinion  of  all  enlightened  persons  in  all  classes,  and  the  measure 
aroused  no  opposition.  It  may  therefore  be  taken  that  it  merely 
gave  legal  force  to  a  general  desire.  Its  results  have  been  very 
salutary. 

Or,  again,  let  us  take  the  law  which  recognised  the  exist- 
ence of  Trade  Unions  as  legal,  or  Mr.  Mundella's  action  with 


CHAP,  iv  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  385 

regard  to  Boards  of  Arbitration.  These  are  in  a  sense  cus- 
tomary laws,  laws  based  on  concrete  precedents,  and  which 
merely  recognised  established  usages  and  ready  constituted 
bodies  endowed  with  full  vitality. 

In  other  departments  the  State  has  created  important 
official  institutions,  intended,  like  the  South  Kensington  Museum, 
to  spread  and  develop  the  taste  for  art,  or,  like  the  Labour 
Department  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  to  conduct  inquiries,  be- 
come a  centre  of  information,  and  throw  light  on  the  Labour 
Question.  Such  institutions  imply  no  constraint;  they  are 
auxiliary  means  of  assistance  offered  to  the  working  classes. 

South  Kensington,  not  content  with  generously  throwing 
open  its  galleries  to  the  public,  is  also  at  the  same  time  a  sort 
of  national  school  of  decorative  art.  It  offers  prizes,  supplies 
models,  and  assists  every  promising  form  of  effort.  "  Our 
principle,"  said  Mr.  Alan  S.  Cole,  the  director  of  the  Science 
and  Art  Department,  "  is  to  help  all  who  are  doing  anything  to 
help  themselves  and  only  those.  Unless  they  take  the  first 
step  themselves  it  is  useless  to  come  and  ask  for  our  assistance." 

Under  the  head  of  measures  which  meet  a  general  want 
and  tend  to  the  organisation  of  industry,  certain  compulsory 
measures  must  be  included. 

Among  these  may  be  classed  municipal  regulations  relat- 
ing to  unsanitary  dwellings,  and  the  laws  relating  to  the  inspec- 
tion of  factories  and  the  employment  of  children.  Their  effect 
is  chiefly  negative,  they  check  the  open  manifestation  of  certain 
abuses,  but  they  do  not  attack  the  cause,  as  we  remarked  in 
the  case  of  working-class  dwellings  in  Glasgow.  But  when, 
as  in  Glasgow,  the  restrictions  imposed  by  public  authority  are 
supplemented  by  the  energetic  action  of  individuals,  they  contri- 
bute in  a  very  useful  manner  to  the  general  end  in  view.  The 
laws  relating  to  the  employment  of  children  and  the  inspection 
of  factories  had  been  asked  for  long  before  they  were  passed, 
and  the  officials  entrusted  with  the  task  of  carrying  them  into 
execution  found  supporters  among  the  workers  themselves 
and  no  opposition  on  the  part  of  employers.1  Here  there  is 

1  Tliis  was  not  the  case  in  the  early  part  of  the  century,  in  1802,  1819,  1832, 
and  1847,  when  the  first  laws  restricting  the  hours  of  work  of  women  and  children 
in  factories  were  passed.  In  1847  Mr.  John  Bright,  M. P.,  so  clear-sighted  a  man 
on  other  points,  opposed  the  passing  of  the  Act  with  all  his  might. 

2  c 


386  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

legal  compulsion,  but  it  is  of  a  kind  acceptable  to  the  nation, 
and  is  in  fact  the  expression  of  a  general  wish. 

We  must  also  bear  in  mind  that  the  aim  of  such  legislation 
is  to  organise,  and  not  to  destroy,  the  new  situation  created  by 
the  industrial  evolution.  The  development  of  machinery  dis- 
penses with  physical  strength  in  the  workers  and  makes  it 
possible  to  employ  children  in  factories.  Consequently  many 
poor  families  would  be  tempted  to  send  boys  and  girls  of  ten 
or  eleven  into  factories,  at  an  age  when  their  education  would 
be  incomplete  and  their  health  likely  to  suffer  from  too  pro- 
longed exertion.  Hence  arise  the  innumerable  regulations 
to  which  we  have  often  had  occasion  to  refer,  regulations  in 
large  measure  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  School  Boards,  which 
decide  under  what  conditions  children  may  be  employed  as 
half-timers  or  full-timers.  Such  regulations  are  easily  modified 
to  suit  local  conditions,  and  prevent  the  ranks  of  the  incapable 
from  being  swollen  by  ignorant  and  prematurely  exhausted 
factory  operatives.  Their  aim  is  to  rear  up  a  generation  of 
capable  men  and  women. 

Here  then  are  a  set  of  cases  in  which  official  intervention 
has  roused  no  objection  and  has  been  of  service.  It  is  difficult 
to  quarrel  with  it  when  employed  in  this  spirit.  But  we  can- 
not lay  too  much  stress  on  the  fact  that  in  all  these  cases  two 
important  conditions  were  present  which  tended  to  make  the 
law  fruitful.  In  the  first  place,  the  legislation  in  question  was 
the  response  to  a  precise  and  general  expression  of  public 
opinion,  and  to  the  universal  wish  of  the  interested  parties ; 
and  in  the  second  place,  it  tended  in  the  direction  of  industrial 
evolution  and  not  counter  to  it. 

The  question  of  a  compulsory  eight  hours  day  is  a  case  in 
point.  A  large  majority  of  miners  are  in  favour  of  it,  but  it 
is  strenuously  and  uncompromisingly  opposed  by  the  Durham 
and  Northumberland  men.  This  circumstance  carries  sufficient 
weight  to  make  thoughtful  statesmen  doubt  the  expediency  of 
legislation  and  abstain  from  voting.  Mr.  Gladstone  explained 
his  position  frankly  in  a  letter  already  quoted.  Mr.  John 
Morley's  attitude  on  this  question  is  well  known.  Thus  the  exist- 
ence of  a  majority  in  favour  of  compulsion  is  not  recognised  as  a 
sufficient  reason  for  forcing  it  upon  the  minority.  Such  a  truly 
liberal  spirit  is  the  best  safeguard  against  the  abuse  of  legislation. 


CHAP,  iv  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  387 

The  eight  hours  question  differs  in  another  respect  from 
those  included  in  the  first  group.  It  would  not  only  be  un- 
just to  a  compact  minority  but  it  would  also  restrict  production 
by  legislative  means.  Such  a  conception  is  antiquated  and 
borrowed  from  the  methods  of  the  old  corporations,  aggravated 
by  modern  centralising  tendencies,  and  directly  opposed  to  the 
progress  of  industrial  and  commercial  evolution.  Yet  this  is 
evidently  what  its  promoters  are  aiming  at,  for  they  are 
radically  opposed  to  all  proposals  for  local  option,  which 
would  enact  a  shorter  working  day  for  districts  which  wished 
it.  What  they  desire  is  to  provide  work  for  a  larger  number 
of  persons,  by  forbidding  those  actually  employed  to  work  the 
longer  day.  Therefore  we  may  without  hesitation  class  the 
compulsory  eight  hours  day  among  measures  of  a  Socialistic 
tendency,  which  endeavour  to  resist  the  evolution  at  work  by 
resorting  to  official  intervention.  If  it  is  adopted  for  mines  in 
some  future  Parliament,  which  is  by  no  means  improbable,  it 
will  be  a  new  and  dangerous  innovation  in  the  legislation  of 
this  country,  and  will  be  the  first  triumph  of  the  Socialistic 
spirit  which  is  tending  to  deflect  the  Trade  Unions  from  the 
course  to  which  they  have  hitherto  owed  their  success. 

The  Socialist  party  has  been  agitating  very  noisily  in 
congresses,  meetings  of  working  men,  and  various  publications. 
It  is  quite  common  to  meet  working  men  and  public  men  who 
are  in  favour  of  Socialism.  We  have  frequently  pointed  out 
that  recourse  to  legislative  protection  is,  in  the  case  of  working 
men,  a  clear  mark  of  their  own  insufficiency,  and  that  the 
trades  which  cry  out  for  this  protection  are  either  organised  on 
a  vicious  system  which  they  refuse  to  change  or  are  in  some 
way  involved  in  the  old  difficulties  of  the  closed  trade.  On  this 
point  enough  has  already  been  said.  But  although  the  Socialistic 
tendencies  of  the  plumbers,  coopers,  and  a  section  of  miners 
are  an  evident  sign  of  weakness,  it  may  be  that  similar 
tendencies  on  the  part  of  statesmen  and  public  men  are  due 
to  another  cause.  This  is  a  point  which  must  be  examined. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  know  the  real  views  of  the  section 
of  the  Labour  Party  which  calls  itself  Socialist.  Some,  like 
Mr.  Keir  Hardie,  take  up  an  uncompromising  position,  while 
others,  like  Mr.  John  Burns  or  Mr.  J.  H.  Wilson,  accept  the  exist- 
ing organisation  and  try  to  turn  it  to  the  best  account.  Do  they 


388  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

really  believe  in  the  efficacy  of  theoretical  Socialism  ?  This  is 
doubtful,  but  they  believe  in  future  changes  of  an  undefined 
kind  which  the  world  of  labour  expects,  and  which  it  expects 
through  Socialism.  They  are  afraid  of  not  being  thought 
Socialists,  they  think  the  platform  a  good  one  and  they  do  not 
wish  to  be  robbed  of  it.  Hence  arise  those  discussions  in 
which  pure  Socialists  affirm  their  principles  and  secure  the 
votes  of  the  leaders,  who  in  their  turn  secure  the  votes  of  their 
friends.  At  the  Trade  Union  Congress  of  1893  a  discussion 
of  the  following  kind  took  place.  Mr.  Ben  Tillett  and  Mr. 
J.  H.  Wilson  had  proposed  to  create  the  electoral  association 
of  the  Labour  Party  which  exists  to-day,  and  a  Mr.  James 
Macdonald  introduced  an  amendment  to  the  effect  that  every 
candidate  of  the  association  should  pledge  himself  to  support 
the  principle  of  the  collective  ownership  and  control  of  all 
means  of  production  and  distribution.1  This  was  complete 
enough  as  a  programme.  Mr.  J.  H.  Wilson,  who  had  couched 
the  motion  in  terms  which  did  not  exact  this  pledge  from 
candidates,  no  doubt  felt  that  this  was  a  trap,  and  spoke  in 
favour  of  the  amendment.  Mr.  John  Burns  did  the  same  and 
the  amendment  was  carried.  Thus  the  Trade  Unions  formally 
declared  themselves  in  favour  of  Collectivism  of  a  very 
advanced  type,  and  they  endorsed  this  declaration  at  the 
Congress  of  1894. 

Must  we  conclude  from  this  that  they  are  Collectivists  ? 
In  our  judgment  it  would  be  a  serious  mistake  to  come  to 
this  conclusion  from  a  resolution  couched  in  terms  so  abstract. 
Big  words  do  not  make  much  impression  on  Englishmen. 

It  would  also  be  necessary  to  know  exactly  what  their 
Collectivism  or  Socialism  is,  for  it  frequently  differs  considerably 
from  the  doctrines  promulgated  under  the  same  name  on  the 
Continent.  For  example,  we  hear  a  good  deal  in  England 
about  Municipal  Socialism.  This  illustrates  very  well  the 
deceptive  character  of  language.  Municipal  Socialism  is  the 
right  of  a  town  to  undertake  the  management  of  its  own 
affairs.  If  a  town  controls  its  own  lighting  or  its  own  water 
supply  or  its  own  drainage,  instead  of  leaving  such  matters  to 
private  companies,  it  is  Municipal  Socialism !  The  term  is  a 
purely  fanciful  one.  Socialism  is  not  the  public  administration 

1  Proceedings  of  "Wednesday,  6th  September  1893. 


CHAP,  iv  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  389 

of  a  public  interest,  but  the  public  administration  of  a  private 
interest. 

From  the  success  of  this  so-called  Socialism,  arguments  are 
sometimes  drawn  in  favour  of  Socialism  in  the  strict  sense. 
Mr.  Chamberlain,  M.P.,  published  an  article  in  the  North 
American  Eeview  for  May  1891  on  "Favourable  Aspects  of 
State  Socialism,"  in  which  he  drew  attention  to  the  improve- 
ments effected  by  the  municipality  of  Birmingham.  The 
picture  was  accurate  and  masterly,  but  the  argument  was  based 
on  an  unfortunate  confusion  of  terms.  The  town  of  Birming- 
ham is  one  of  the  best  administered  in  the  kingdom,  and  has 
been  remarkably  successful  in  organising  and  placing  under 
municipal  control  the  supply  of  the  majority  of  its  needs.  But 
this  does  not  prove  that  the  State  could  with  advantage  and 
without  danger  come  to  the  aid  of  badly  managed  private 
interests,  and  it  is  this  which  is  the  very  essence  of  State 
Socialism. 

I  had  the  good  fortune  to  have  a  long  conversation  on  this 
question  with  Mr.  Sidney  Webb,  the  chairman  of  the  Technical 
Education  Committee  of  the  London  County  Council,  and  a 
prominent  member  of  the  Fabian  Society.  Municipal  Socialism 
is  the  most  striking  feature  in  his  programme,  and  the  one  which 
his  own  position  would  best  enable  him  to  put  into  practice. 
He  further  avows  definite  Collectivist  views,  but  the  turn 
he  gives  them,  the  end  he  assigns  to  them,  and  the  general 
spirit  with  which  he  inspires  them  would  make  them  unre- 
cognisable in  the  eyes  of  a  French  or  German  Collectivist. 

For  instance,  he  declares  himself  in  favour  of  the  English 
system  of  the  concentration  of  land  in  a  few  hands.  That  the 
Duke  of  Westminster  should  possess  a  whole  quarter  of  London 
does  not  shock  him  in  the  least,  and  he  regards  it  as  a  step 
towards  Collectivism.  "  I  would  infinitely  rather,"  he  said, 
"  see  London  divided  among  ten  dukes,  as  it  is,  than  owned  by 
a  crowd  of  landlords.  The  great  landlords  of  London  are  rich, 
they  can  build  comfortable  houses  with  better  conditions  of 
sanitation,  and  thus  all  the  tenants  benefit." 

Mr.  Webb  does  not  wish  to  hand  over  property  to  the 
incapable ;  on  the  contrary,  he  exaggerates  the  qualities  neces- 
sary to  make  a  landlord.  He  would  not  let  working  men 
own  their  own  houses,  and  would  centralise  land  in  the  hands 


390  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  in 

of  great  landlords,  and  industry  in  great  factories,  and  trade  in 
great  firms.  His  ideas  have  much  in  common  with  those  of 
Henry  George,  although  he  does  not  think  his  programme  goes 
far  enough,  or  that  the  single  tax  is  a  panacea  sufficient  to 
attain  all  the  ends  in  view. 

Mr.  "Webb's  chief  concern  is  to  assure  to  each  citizen,  not 
an  equal  share  of  wealth  or  happiness,  but  an  equal  chance  to 
start  in  life.  Although  much  in  his  programme  may  seem  to 
us  illusive,  yet  it  cannot  be  said  that  he  would  break  the  spring 
of  individual  energy  like  the  Continental  Socialists,  nor  does 
he  demoralise  the  working  classes  by  promising  them  happi- 
ness without  work. 

This  point  is  extremely  important.  Socialism  on  the 
Continent  tends  to  demoralise  the  worker  by  favouring  his 
incapacity  and  dissuading  him  from  personal  exertion.  Mr. 
Webb's  Collectivism,  on  the  other  hand,  offers  a  prize  to  the 
most  capable,  and  cannot,  therefore,  exert  the  same  disastrous 
influence  upon  the  elevation  of  the  working  class,  the  great 
necessity  of  modern  times. 

However  threatening  may  be  the  position  of  Socialism  in 
England,  and  whatever  legislative  triumphs  it  may  be  destined 
to  achieve,  there  is  no  reason  to  fear  that  it  will  check  the 
marked  upward  tendency  of  the  working  class.  Its  most 
earnest  and  prominent  advocates  do  not  sacrifice  to  it  the  first 
essential  thing  in  life,  the  sense  of  responsibility  and  the  love 
of  effort. 

This  is  due  to  the  influence  of  the  English  environment, 
without  some  study  of  which,  as  it  affects  the  working  classes 
of  England,  we  should  not  have  an  adequate  conception  of  the 
means  of  elevation  within  their  reach. 

IV.  Means  of  Elevation  due  to  the  English  Character. 

"  The  mind  of  England,"  said  Disraeli  in  his  novel  Sybil, 
"  is  the  mind  ever  of  the  rising  race."  This  country,  in  which 
tradition  has  taken  such  deep  root,  has  never  failed  to  supply 
sap  to  young  shoots  from  the  parent  trunk  which  give  promise 
of  vigorous  life.  The  feeling  of  England  is  always  with  those 
who  are  making  their  way  upwards. 

We  have  again  and  again  alluded  to  this  phenomenon  in 


CHAP,  iv  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  391 

education,  which  is  so  all-important.  The  immense  majority  of 
Englishmen  are  educated  for  work,  for  a  life  of  activity. 
Parents  are  far  more  concerned  to  fit  their  children  for  the 
struggle  of  life  than  to  shield  them  against  the  necessity  for  it. 
There  is  no  piling  up  of  money  for  children,  who  are  educated 
to  become  capable  of  providing  for  themselves,  instead  of  being 
well  provided  for  but  incapable. 

As  a  consequence,  work  and  effort  are  held  in  general 
esteem  by  the  nation  as  a  whole.  There  is  a  real  sympathy 
for  rising  men,  which  is  in  itself  a  powerful  incentive  to 
individual  energy.  The  bent  given  by  parents  to  the  educa- 
tion of  their  children  is  so  strongly  in  this  direction  that  all 
the  forces  of  the  nation  are  at  work  to  favour  the  ascent  of 
the  capable. 

No  means  are  neglected  to  bring  about  this  end.  There  is 
a  deliberate  devotion  to  athletic  sports,  because  they  supply 
physical  training  to  the  young  and  keep  older  men  supple  and 
vigorous,  and  because  they  train  all  to  physical  endurance  and 
increase  their  general  efficiency. 

Muscular  development,  however,  is  not  enough.  There 
must  also  be  a  strong  moral  fibre,  an  education  of  the  will,  a 
discipline  of  endurance  for  the  moral  nature,  and  this  necessity 
is  recognised  in  practice.  The  national  virtue  is  self-control. 

To  this  must  be  added  the  national  seriousness.  English- 
men joke  rarely  and  with  difficulty.  They  are  often  witty, 
but  the  source  of  much  English  humour  lies  in  a  philosophic 
and  serious  view  of  things  on  the  part  of  an  individual,  which 
unexpectedly  contrasts  the  reality  with  the  conventional  view 
and  brings  out  its  ridiculous  side.  Examples  will  be  found  in 
the  pages  of  Thackeray,  Bulwer  Lytton,  Dickens,  and  others, 
but  none  of  the  lightness  of  French  wit.  It  is  not  wise  to 
joke  with  an  Englishman  unless  you  explain  beforehand  that 
you  do  not  wish  to  be  taken  seriously.  Nothing  so  scandalises 
and  disconcerts  him  as  the  French  tendency  to  relieve  the 
strain  by  an  unexpected  jest  when  treating  a  serious  matter. 
He  himself  acts  with  conviction,  and  is  not  turned  from  his 
purpose  by  side  issues,  he  keeps  his  eyes  fixed  on  the  end 
in  view,  and  concentrates  his  whole  will  and  energy  on  what 
he  is  doing.  Such  a  man  is  often  called  original  by  foreigners, 
when  the  object  in  view  seems  incommensurate  with  the  ex- 


392  THE  LABOUR  QUESTION  PART  HI 

penditure  of  force,  but  nevertheless  it  is  this  habit  of  throwing 
the  whole  of  himself  into  what  he  undertakes  that  gives  an 
Englishman  such  power  in  life. 

Both  persuasion  and  compulsion  are  called  into  requisition 
for  the  development  of  self-control  and  seriousness.  These 
virtues  are  extolled  from  the  pulpit,  and  are  expected  in  out- 
ward demeanour.  Without  a  show  of  them  at  any  rate  a  man 
would  be  excluded  from  all  respectable  society.  On  Sunday 
itinerant  preachers  are  to  be  found  at  the  street  corners  and  in 
the  public  parks  urging  people  to  good  conduct.  Public-houses 
are  shut  in  many  towns  to  prevent  people  from  getting  drunk 
in  public,  for  to  get  drunk  is  to  lose  self-control. 

Outlets  have  to  be  found  for  all  the  energies  aroused  and 
stimulated  by  such  an  education.  Such  outlets  have  been 
multiplied  to  infinity  in  the  nineteenth  century,  which  has 
witnessed  the  varied  applications  of  modern  science.  The  whole 
world  has  been  thrown  open  to  enterprise  of  every  kind  by  the 
development  of  means  of  rapid  transit,  and  productive  forces  of 
unknown  power  have  been  put  at  the  disposal  of  human 
activity,  which  is  thus  assured  of  a  prize  of  unprecedented 
value. 

England  was  marvellously  prepared  to  profit  by  these  new 
conditions,  and  has  succeeded  by  their  aid  in  developing  her 
immense  colonial  empire  and  in  creating  her  triumphant 
industry.  Abroad  she  has  organised  the  great  movement  of 
spontaneous  emigration  which  has  created  new  English  lands 
in  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  At  home  she  has  made  herself 
the  greatest  manufacturing  nation  in  the  world,  and  has  thus 
proved  that  she  need  fear  no  rival.  Her  sons  succeed  on  foreign 
shores  where  others  fail,  and  her  commerce  proudly  rejects 
any  protective  barriers,  and  affirms  its  superiority  by  invading 
those  countries  where  the  population  is  too  dense  for  Englishmen 
to  settle. 

All  this  England  has  done  by  essentially  simple  means, 
exclusively  through  the  national  system  of  education  and 
through  the  development  of  the  special  capacities  of  each 
individual.  In  case  of  need,  her  diplomacy,  her  maritime 
power,  and  her  armies  lend  vigorous  aid  to  the  individual 
enterprises  of  her  sons  but  do  not  anticipate  them.  They 
are  the  auxiliaries  of  private  initiative. 


CHAP,  iv  UNDER  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  393 

In  the  face  of  such  results,  by  which  the  whole  nation 
profits  and  in  which  the  whole  nation  co-operates,  the  English 
working  classes  should  put  their  unshaken  confidence  in  these 
simple  individual  methods,  and  all  the  more  so  because  the 
evolution  of  industry  and  commerce  has  given  them  a  new 
efficacy.  Under  the  old  system  of  industrial  organisation  the 
worker  moved  in  a  narrow  sphere,  and  was,  so  to  speak,  caught 
in  toils  from  which  he  could  only  free  himself  with  difficulty. 
The  means  of  elevation  offered  by  his  environment  were  to 
some  extent  paralysed  by  circumstances.  To-day  they  have 
freer  play.  The  further  evolution  advances,  and  the  more  the 
worker's  point  of  departure  becomes  indifferent,  the  more  easy 
does  it  become  for  him  to  prove  his  individual  worth. 

If  he  resists  this  evolution  he  refuses  to  rise,  he  vows 
himself  to  mediocrity,  he  allows  his  faculties  to  become  atro- 
phied in  the  deceptive  calm  of  a  trade  which  offers  neither 
horizon  nor  security. 

If  he  accepts  it  and  girds  on  his  armour,  he  takes  a  wise 
and  manly  course,  which  often  lifts  him  out  of  mediocrity  so 
far  as  his  material  life  is  concerned,  and  always  out  of  moral 
mediocrity. 

The  future  belongs,  not  to  those  complex  methods  which 
permit  the  worker  to  remain  in  mediocrity,  but  to  the  simple 
ones  which  enable  him  to  rise  out  of  it. 


THE  END 


Printed  by  R.  &  R.  CLARK,  LIMITED,  Edinburgh. 


THE  LABOUR  QUESTION 
'  -rc>rtheless  it  ;    "' 


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